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To understand what a watershed is, think of a bathtub. The top rim of the tub could be the hilltop, the sides are the slopes, the bottom is the valley, and the drain represents the lake. Anything poured inside the tub ends up down the drain. The water poured closest to the drain gets there first, but all of the water eventually reaches the same destination.

When snow melts, or when it rains the layout of the land around you determines how quickly the water runs. Some rainwater seeps into the ground and becomes groundwater, some evaporates, and the rest runs downhill into our wetlands, streams, rivers and lakes.

One place that clearly demonstrates how water moves across land is on a parking lot. Next time it rains, notice how the water appears to move in sheets down to the sewer drain or low spot. That sheet is the runoff of a small segment of the watershed.

So, a watershed is an area of land that catches rain and snow, which drains into a marsh, stream, river, or lake. Homes, farms, forests, small towns, and big cities can make up a watershed. Some watersheds cross municipal, provincial, and even international boarders. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes and can vary from millions of acres, like the lands that drain into the Great Lakes, to a few acres that drain into a pond.

A watershed defines the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s boundary. The branches of some of the largest creeks that flow through the Niagara Peninsula, like the Welland River, Twenty Mile Creek, and Forty Mile Creek, reach all the way up into the City of Hamilton and the County of Haldimand. Everything that is done on a watershed affects the quality of water within it. NPCA conducts programs that monitor and report on the quality of our watershed’s ground and surface water, helps keep our drinking water safe, and helps keep people safe from floods and other natural hazards.