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Water — From the Mountains to the Seas
Imagine that you can stand by your local stream and magically look up and down its entire length. Looking up the stream, you see high ground where rainwater and snowmelt run off the land or seep through the soil to collect in lakes, creeks and wetlands. You see fresh, life-giving waters rush toward you, joining with other streams and rivers that meander through your neighbourhood. You turn and watch their relentless pursuit of lower ground.
These same waters flow down through forests and cities, past farms and factories, perhaps breaking their travel for a while in a lake or wetland before spilling into the sea.
This network of springs, streams, lakes and wetlands — and all the lands they drain — is called a watershed. But remember, water does not disappear forever into the sea! Thanks to evaporation and the water cycle, it will all go around again.
Water in Canada drains into five main drainage basins: the Arctic, the Atlantic (which includes the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River), Hudson Bay, the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. These watersheds are separated by heights of land. Ridges (or high areas such as hilltops) form natural boundaries between watersheds. Water drains downhill from the highest point to the lowest. The lowest point is usually sea level.
Your Coastal Connection
Watersheds are one of nature’s most important links between the land where we live and the world’s vast oceans. They are ancient and reliable delivery systems, carrying fresh water, minerals, nutrients, wildlife — even people — from our landlocked Canadian interior to our far-flung coasts. This precious cargo supports and helps shape such diverse and important marine habitats as estuaries, tidal flats, salt marshes, rocky shores, sand dunes, beaches and peatlands.
Unfortunately, watersheds also carry lethal loads of harmful chemicals, human sewage and even litter that we have carelessly tossed away. Regardless of where you live, either inland or along a seacoast, your daily actions will help or hinder the survival of some of our most fascinating and valuable ocean habitats, and the wildlife that lives there.