What is a watershed?
A watershed is the area of land that drains water to a common place like a stream, river, lake, or other large body of water. Different watersheds are separated by ridges or areas with higher elevations. When rain falls within a watershed runoff water flows down hill to its stream or river. There are four major Rivers in Northeast Iowa, The Upper Iowa River, the Upper Wapsipinicon, the Maquoketa River, the Turkey River and the Yellow River. Each have smaller watersheds within them that encompass the drainage areas of smaller tributary streams. The map below shows the outlines of the large watersheds in Northeast Iowa. Notice, we all live in a watershed!
What watershed do you live in?
