Thinking in Terms of Watersheds Everyone lives in a watershed. Quite simply a watershed is an area of land that drains into a river or lake. Much of the rainwater that falls in a watershed runs across or through the ground to become part of the critical water resources that we depend upon for our daily needs. A significant amount of rainwater is intercepted and transpired by plants or is evaporated. Because the land surface of a watershed comes into contact with all water flowing into streams and lakes, materials on the land can become mixed with water causing pollution.
Examples range from sediment arising from farm fields to oil running off parking lots.
In the past few years, the Department of Environmental Protection has taken steps to focus on watersheds through staffing assignments, grant programs, and changes in policies and regulations. They propose to further their efforts to focus on watersheds through the Growing Greener Proposal introduced into the General Assembly. Watershed level management will also be required to address total maximum daily load and non-point source National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System requirements being promulgated under the federal Clean Water Act . In today s global economy, manufacturing businesses are more mobile and often times make decisions to locate in an area based upon a few key attributes including labor availability, highway access, and water supply. If we are to be competitive in retaining existing businesses and attracting new ones, we must meet the water supply needs of various manufacturing businesses.