There is simply no question that water is absolutely essential to your good health in a myriad of ways. That’s why it is so very important that every community has a clean, constant supply of drinking water.

If you live in a large city, your drinking water may come from surface water such as lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, which may be close to your community. At other times, drinking water comes to you from sources that may be many miles away.

No matter what, when you stop and think about where your drinking water comes from, it’s important to consider not just the water source you can see, but the hidden areas it flows from called the watershed. The watershed is the land area over which the water flows into the river, lake, or reservoir that supplies your water. Of course, the further away from you your water originates, the higher the likelihood of contamination compromising its quality.