The Delaware Bay Watershed is the area in white

An even bigger, perhaps better known watershed is that of the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay itself is fed by 48 major rivers and is nearly 200 miles long. Its' watershed reaches into 6 states (including Pennsylvania), and covers 64,000 square miles!

The Key
thing to realize about the concept of a watershed is that activities on land can very easily affect water quality downstream. That can affect people, along with everything that relies upon that water--from micro-organisms to plants, from aquatic insects to fish.

Early in our nation's history, when the population was still low and cities were small, people dumped their wastes directly into rivers and streams. They didn't understand the wastershed concept. They didn't realize that their actions affected people living downstream. The rivers just flushed wastes away, out of sight and out of mind. Imagine what life would be like today if we still allowed all of our wastewater to go directly into rivers and streams...

The City of Philadelphia
realized quite early that waterways can be affected by what happens on land. Fairmount Park was actually established in part to provide a "buffer" between human activities and the region's rivers and streams. For more about this, visit the Schuylkill River story in the section of this site dedicated to the Academy's environmental research.

More
people, more cars, more roads, more farms, more shopping centers, more industry: all these things add up to a greater need for water than ever before. It's up to us to use water in a responsible way.

Use, Don't Abuse. Understanding the idea of a watershed is more important than ever before!