There’s water all around us: from groundwater flowing beneath our feet to the clouds that drift above us, we’re surrounded by it. Water is always moving from higher ground to lower ground, on a set course towards the ocean, where it eventually gets picked back up by clouds to join the water cycle once more. When we understand how watersheds work, we can understand how our actions impact the health of our oceans and the rivers that flow into them.

Our Local Watershed

A watershed is an area of land that drains water from its highest points down to its lowest. Watersheds can be very small, like an inland stream draining to a lake, and they can also be enormous. Ocean Hour Farm sits in the Narragansett Bay Watershed, which covers most of Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts, and a small part of Connecticut. 

The Narragansett Bay Watershed’s major rivers are the Blackstone, the Taunton, and the Pawtuxet, and there are over three thousand tributary streams and rivers that drain the 1,705mi² basin. All of this water washes into the Narragansett Bay, towards Rhode Island Sound, and finally out into the Atlantic Ocean. Narragansett Bay, comprising 560 shoreline miles, is home to 3,321 acres of salt marsh and 479 acres of seagrasses.

Slowing Water

When rain falls, the water collects into channels and flows toward drainage points in the watershed, such as streams and rivers. This effect is called runoff. Runoff picks up particles and carries them along downstream. These particles can have grave effects on the environment as they move through the watershed. Motor oil, fertilizers, and litter are probably the pollutants that come to mind first, but even topsoil from farms can act as a pollutant when it flows into the ocean. People’s actions on land will impact the ocean, but it doesn’t have to only be negative. What we do on land can benefit the ocean, too.

Water absorbs into soil at different rates depending on soil type, topography, and surface cover. When watersheds are healthy, their slopes are vegetated and their ecosystems are intact, and the soil underneath is able to filter and slow water as it moves downstream. When a watershed is damaged (such as from deforestation, wide swaths of pavement, or erosion of slopes) it is easier for pollution to enter streams and rivers and to make its way into the ocean. For example, rainwater falling on a paved parking lot can’t simply trickle into the soil. The runoff moves along this impervious surface until it finds a way to drain, whether into a storm drain or a stream. 

Damaged watersheds can be repaired, and there are many ways people can help!