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A Look at Tennessee’s Watersheds

Grade levels: Environmental Science, Scientific Research

A Look at Tennessee’s Watersheds

A watershed is an area of land where all streams, rivers, rain, and surface runoff flows to a single point. Watershed boundaries are high points from which water flows downhill to the nearest waterway. All of the land inside a watershed impacts the quality of water in the streams and rivers. Our schools, homes, and businesses are all part of a watershed. In fact, everywhere on earth is part of a watershed. It is important to keep our land clean because that land carries runoff to the rivers and streams that provide our fresh water supply.

This section includes the What is a Watershed lesson plan where students will:

  1. Relate the movement of water through a watershed to the water cycle. 
  2. Understand how topography relates to a watershed. 
  3. Understand how humans impact watersheds.

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