What is in our watershed?
A watershed is an area defined by rainwater. It is all of the land catching rainwater that eventually flows into a particular waterway (river, lake, ocean, etc.). There are many paths that the water can take. Some of it soaks into the soil to become groundwater and slowly replenishes streams and lakes. Some runs overland (or through storm sewers and ditches) and quickly runs into the river and its creeks.
So, the Huron River Watershed (or basin) is made up of all the land that drains either directly into the Huron River or into the creeks that feed into the Huron River. Parts of seven counties in southeast Michigan (Ingham, Jackson, Livingston, Monroe, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne) drain into the Huron River and are part of the Huron River Watershed. The Huron River, in turn, drains into Lake Erie, so all of the land in the Huron River Watershed is also a part of the Great Lakes Watershed.
There are many important pieces to every watershed. The following links go to informational pages about why these features are important to the health and quality of a watershed.
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