We call the earth the water planet 

because water covers 70 percent of 

its surface. Americans depend on 

clean water to drink, to irrigate crops, and to run 

industries. Water resources provide opportunities such as fishing and swimming, and wetlands 

provide protection from floods. Rivers, lakes, 

estuaries, and wetlands also provide critical habitat for wildlife. Estuaries serve as birthplace and 

nursery for most saltwater fish and shellfish!

What is a watershed? 

No matter where you live, you live in a 

watershed. A watershed is the land area 

that drains to a single body of water such 

as a stream, lake, wetland or aquifer (an 

underground layer of water). Watersheds 

come in many different sizes. A few acres 

might drain into a small stream or wetland, 

or a few large rivers might drain into an 

estuary—where fresh water and salt water 

mix. The actions of people who live in a 

watershed affect 

the health of 

the waters that 

run through it. 

Rainfall and 

snowmelt wash 

chemicals, fertilizers, sediment, 

and other pollutants from the land 

into water bodies. To 

achieve healthy watersheds, EPA needs the help 

of people like you!

What is the Adopt Your 

Watershed campaign?

To encourage stewardship of the nation’s 

water resources, EPA challenges citizens 

and organizations to join the Agency and 

others who are working to protect and 

restore our nation’s valuable rivers, 

streams, wetlands, lakes, ground 

water and estuaries.

What do we mean 

by “adoption”?

“Adoption” means participating 

in a citizen-based effort—large 

or small—to restore or protect 

a watershed, river, lake, 

wetland or estuary. 

Examples of adoption activities include

 Volunteering to monitor water quality

 Marking or stenciling storm drains

 Organizing stream cleanups

 Planting trees along eroding streambanks

 Hosting a water festival

All groups currently registered for the 

Adopt Your Watershed database 

can now update their information 

online at http://yosemite.epa.gov/water/

adopt.nsf/update. It’s important that the 

information in the database is accurate, so 

we strongly encourage all groups to update 

their records! You can also e-mail changes to: 

adopt@epa.gov. 

The Adopt Your Watershed web site also has 

a form for groups interested in receiving a 

Certificate of Appreciation for their efforts. 

 Working with local government agencies 

and others that make water quality 

decisions

 Tracking the development and 

implementation of Total Maximum 

Daily Loads (i.e., pollution budgets) and 

watershed plans

How can I find out what 

groups are active in my 

community?

Go to www.epa.gov/adopt. This online 

catalog showcases opportunities to get 

involved in activities in your community. 

With hundreds of active volunteer 

monitoring groups, 12,000 classrooms, 

and more than 3,000 watershed alliances 

working nationwide, there are many 

opportunities to join an organized effort in 

your community.

If you don’t have Internet access, you can 

call EPA’s Water Resource Center at 

202-566-1729.
How Can I Make a Difference?

Top Ten Watershed Tips

 1. Conserve water every day. Take shorter showers, fix leaks and turn off the water while brushing your teeth.

 2. Don’t pour toxic household chemicals down the drain. Take them to a local hazardous waste collection 

center instead.

 3. Use hardy plants that require little or no watering, fertilizers or pesticides in your yard.

 4. Do not over apply fertilizers. Consider using organic or slow release fertilizers.

 5. Recycle yard waste in a compost pile and use a mulching mower to leave grass clippings on the lawn.

 6. Use surfaces like wood, brick or gravel for decks, patios and walkways. They allow rain to soak in and not 

run off.

 7. Never pour used oil or antifreeze into the storm drain or the street. Visit www.earth911.org to find out 

where you can go to dispose of hazardous wastes properly. 

 8. Pick up after your dog, and dispose of the waste in the toilet or the trash.

 9. Drive less—walk or bike instead. Many pollutants in our waters come from car exhaust and car leaks.

 10. Adopt your watershed! Learn more at www.epa.gov/adopt.

Programs and Activities for Students

Adopt-A-Watershed www.adopt-a-watershed.org

Educating Young People About Water

www.uwex.edu/erc/eypaw

Exploring Estuaries for Teachers and Kids

www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries/kids

Making Ripples: How to Organize a School Water 

Festival www.groundwater.org

Project WET (Water Education for Teachers)

www.projectwet.org

River of Words Poetry and Art Contest

www.riverofwords.org

Schoolyard Habitat Program of the National Wildlife 

Federation www.nwf.org/schoolyardhabitats

Wetland Education

www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/education

Girl Scouts’ Water Drop Patch Project

www.epa.gov/adopt/patch

EPA Watershed Patch Project

www.epa.gov/adopt/patch/certificates

USGS Water Science for Schools ga.water.usgs.gov/edu

Tools to Help You Adopt Your Watershed

This is not a complete list of available resources, and mention of 

these Web sites, organizations or products does not mean that 

EPA endorses them. For a more extensive list, please visit EPA’s 

Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds Web site at www.

epa.gov/owow or call the Wetlands Help Line at 1-800-832-7828 

or EPA’s Water Resource Center at 202-566-1729.

Tools for Watershed Partnerships

EPA’s Office of Wetlands, Oceans and 

Watersheds www.epa.gov/owow

Low Impact Development Center

www.lowimpactdevelopment.org

The Clean Water Act: Online training course

www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa

EPA’s Watershed Academy Web

www.epa.gov/watertrain

Catalog of Federal Funding for Watershed 

Protection www.epa.gov/watershedfunding

W.A.T.E.R.S.– Water Assessment, Tracking and 

Environmental Results is an exciting new tool that 

allows mapping of data from many databases so it can 

be viewed at the same time. W.A.T.E.R.S. helps users 

find basic answers to questions like “How healthy is my 

watershed?” “Should I drink the water?” “Should I eat 

the fish?” www.epa.gov/waters

Total Maximum Daily Loads www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl

STORET—EPA’s principal repository for water quality, 

biological and physical data www.epa.gov/storet

Smart Growth Network www.smartgrowth.org/sgn

Center for Watershed Protection www.cwp.org 

Nonpoint Source Education for Municipal Employees 

(NEMO) www.nemo.uconn.edu

Join the National Catalog of 

Watershed Partnerships!

To learn how your group can be included 

in EPA’s online catalog of watershed 

partnerships, go to www.epa.gov/adopt. 

Click on “Join Now.” 

The Adopt Your Watershed Web site also 

has a form for groups interested in receiving 

a certificate of appreciation for their efforts.

Volunteer 

Monitoring

Across the country, 

trained volunteers monitor the condition of their 

local waters. Their efforts 

help provide quality data 

and build local environmental stewardship. For 

a national directory of 

volunteer water monitoring organizations and other information on how 

you can get involved, visit www.epa.gov/owow/

monitoring/volunteer. On this site, you can 

also learn about World Water Monitoring Day—a 

worldwide event celebrated every October 18th—

that affords students, teachers, families, Scouts, 

and others an opportunity to use a simple kit to 

test the quality of local streams, lakes and bays. 

Adopt Your Watershed

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds (4501T)

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW 

Washington, DC 20460

e-mail: adopt@epa.gov

Web site: www.epa.gov/adopt

EPA 840-F-05-004

July 2005

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