Why is Water so Special?

Renee DeYoung, grade 12, Finger Lakes Christian School, Seneca Falls

Renee DeYoung

What are some of the things central New York is known for? We have Waterloo, the “birthplace of Memorial Day”; the city of Auburn which is known for its countless crows; and of course the small yet famous town of Seneca Falls with the Woman’s Rights Hall of Fame building. If, however, you were to look at a geographic map, none of these things would jump out at you. No, to look at a map you would have to agree that the most notable aspect of this portion of the nation is our beautiful lakes, more specifically the Finger Lakes.
Of the eleven majestic Finger Lakes, Cayuga is both the longest and widest. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Cayuga Lake’s watershed is the largest of all of the watersheds. This particular watershed consists of over 140 streams and outlets, and covers six counties, causing it to play a drastically important role to more than 120,000 people.
To truly understand why this watershed is so important we need to go back to some of those common sense facts we learned back in junior high. For starters, we know that people will settle in places that offer not only the things they need, but also the setting and environment they want. According to several studies, two of the most substantial factors that play a role in where people choose to live are clean water and air. In fact, the idea of being able to live on the waterfront appeals to people so much that those properties on the edge of a clean body of water have a real estate value about 28% higher than that of similar properties located elsewhere. We also know that wherever people settle, businesses and industries will almost always follow in order to cater to the needs and desires of those people and their families. All right, so if you can follow that logic, it only stands to reason that there will be a large amount of job opportunities within the Cayuga watershed area. Although we said that many of the businesses and industries are built up around what the local residents of an area want, there are also several businesses that are developed due to the tourism of an area. Which, as we saw in the first paragraph, central New York seems to have a lot of. Whatever way you look at it, there are a large number of people living and working in this area due to this important watershed.So far in this essay I have centered all of the reasons as to why we should work to maintain the Cayuga Lake Watershed on humans and our way of life. However, there are a number of equally good reasons that are related to the wildlife of this region. If you have ever driven through Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (the northern outlet of Cayuga Lake) you have probably seen many different species of birds and fish, as well as other types of animals such as deer, turtles, and small rodents. All of those animals you see depend on those wetlands for their survival. If we look at the bigger picture, not only does the water give many types of wildlife places to live, but it also gives nutrition to the thousands of acres of forests in the area, making central New York the beautiful region that it is.
As you can see there are countless reasons to preserve and protect the Cayuga Lake Watershed, ranging from real estate and industrial, to the wildlife and forests. It is a beautiful treasure we have been given and there is no good reason we should allow it to be destroyed.