Watershed: A ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. Also called a water parting.
Watershed: The region draining into a river, river system, or other body of water.
Reference: American Heritage Electronic Dictionary.
Although the term "watershed" is usually used today in the second sense, the term originally meant the ridges that "parted" the falling rain into two different river systems. The Rocky Mountains are a watershed that divide the Colorado River drainage basin from the Mississippi drainage basin, for example.
Today the term is usually used to mean the drainage basin itself, and often in a larger, ecological sense, to mean the biological communities found in the drainage basin. The photo above is a wonderful illustration of how all of these concepts fit together. You can see the mountains which part the rainfall, the bowl-shaped drainage basin, and the forest ecosystem which occupies the basin. This is a photo of the Schuylkill River where PA 61 passes over it, near Hamburg.
Watersheds represent a natural unit of our environment. They often contain habitats and species unique to their limited geographical area. They have served as the basis for many human civilizations, starting with the Indus, the Tigres and Euphrates, the Nile, and the Huang Ho.
All living things in a watershed are united by the life-sustaining flow of water which they share. Those living things suffer through the same droughts and floods, though they may react differently and some may die while others prosper.
Here is a list of some Watershed topics which may serve to stimulate your thoughts about what water means to us, and what life in the watershed is all about - we all live in one, so how about getting to know more about yours today!
Back to: The Schuylkill River