Finding Your Watershed: Everyone Lives in One

A watershed (drainage basin/catchment) is the land area where all precipitation drains to a common outlet. **Everyone lives in a watershed**—but the specific one depends entirely on your location.

How to Find Yours

1. US: EPA "How's My Waterway" (watershed.gov), USGS StreamStats, state DEQ interactive maps. Enter address → HUC-12 (local) to HUC-2 (region).
2. Canada: ECCC Watersheds Atlas, provincial geo-portals.
3. Global: HydroSHEDS, WWF HydroBASINS, Google Earth Engine apps.
4. Local: Conservation district, riverkeeper, watershed council, municipality stormwater dept.

Why It Matters

• Your lawn fertilizer → stream → river → estuary → ocean.
• Upstream land use (logging, paving, mining) → your flood risk, water quality.
• Watershed boundaries ≠ political boundaries. Management requires cross-jurisdiction cooperation.

Example

If you're in **Pittsburgh, PA**: You're in the **Ohio River Basin** (HUC-05) → **Monongahela Subbasin** (HUC-0502) → **Local watershed** (e.g., Nine Mile Run, HUC-12). Water flows: Monongahela → Ohio → Mississippi → Gulf of Mexico.

Know your watershed. It's your ecological address.