Essay Contest Winner:
"It Takes a Community to Protect Our Watershed"

Nicole Loerzel
First Place, High School Category

A watershed is a region or area from which watersoluble substances ultimately drain to a particular water course or body of water. The watershed of each lake consists of all drainage from adjacent uplands, shorelines, and wetlands. Most people think that if they are a mile or so away from a body of water they are out of the watershed, but they are not. Every piece of land is the watershed for a specific body of water. All bodies of water are connected in one way or another. So, no water and no watershed is safe from pollutants, unless the land surrounding the entire planet is properly cared for.

When toxins and other pollutants enter a lake, they ruin it. They kill what grows naturally and promote the growth of bacteria. If they do not kill the wildlife of the water they pollute, they poison it. Then, when the things that feed off of that wildlife eat, they too become poisoned. Humans also rely on lakes for their drinking water and their water for everything. If you have a lake polluted with toxins and harmful chemicals, then much filtration and purification has to be done before you can consume that water. The plants and animals in the environment though, do not have the ability to alter the water back to usable standards. Therefore they use it as is and become sick and in some cases die.

The Cayuga Lake Watershed is larger than most people would think. Due to the fact that the general public does not know much about their lakes' watershed, toxins are released into the watershed without a second thought. People do not realize that when you dump toxins, they do not just go "away". They get into the ground and storm drains, then into streams and rivers and are led down to the lake. Once in the lake their concentrations just build up and pollute. They can take over the lake, and kill everything in it to which they are harmful. This only occurs in the most dramatic circumstances.

In order to prevent further abuse to the watershed and lake, each individual has to learn how to treat the watershed properly, and then do so. If everyone of a community will respect their watershed, then the community has come together to put forth just efforts. When looking at the big picture though, one community is still a small matter. If you look around a lake as large as Cayuga Lake, you will find private homes, public businesses, private businesses, and many diverse communities. It is difficult to get everyone from one community to understand and do the right thing. It is nearly impossible to get everyone surrounding an entire lake to conform to healthier habits. Attempts to get proper treatment of the watershed must be made. The attempts of just one person, though they may seem small, can help in a big way. If everyone is of the mentality that, "If no one else is wasting their time doing it, why should I?", you will get no results. On the other hand, if everyone is of the mentality that "Everyone else is doing their share, so I better do mine.", the results will be excellent and the community can only benefit from them.

As one person you can do your share for the watershed in many ways. You can protect it starting with your family and yourself. This would be done by making sure that you and your family do not dump harmful materials into your yard or any other piece of land where the materials will end up in a watershed. You would make sure that no toxins were dumped directly into a body of water. Make sure your toxic materials are properly cared for by learning the correct ways to dispose of them, or by taking them to a hazardous waste collection site. You could also help your watershed by cleaning toxins and waste out of visible parts of it. This means cleaning out rivers, inlets, outlets, and streams that are part of your watershed. When you clean them out you would collect the materials and make it your job to dispose of them properly. The most important and influential way to keep your watershed clean, is to educate. If you educate your family, friends, and neighbors, it is a beginning. When you educate the public about what their watershed is, and how to properly take care of it, they usually will follow your teachings. Even the people who normally do not care, may feel pressured to do the right thing because now they know what they are doing and what the consequences are. They know that they are ruining the water that they need to live.

You can educate them in a few ways. You would tell them exactly what a watershed is and how the watershed effects a lake. Then you would show what substances should not be let into the watershed. This would be all pollutants and chemicals that are harmful in one way or another. Examples would be bleach and oil and chemicals that are supposed to kill one thing and benefit another, such as lawn care products and pesticides. Adding unnecessary pollutants to the water that may carry diseases is also harmful. Such pathogens are fertilizer and the materials left by the animals when taken straight from a barn or pen.

When making an entire community understand the importance of their watershed, you protect it in a very big way. Once citizens know what it is that they are doing wrong, they will change their ways. When they see what they were doing correct, they will be proud and have a sense of comfort in knowing they have been doing good. Watershed protection is a necessity from everyone. If everyone does their part, quality of living could increase from pure surroundings, rather than making quality seem to increase by loading the environment with chemicals.