Learn your local waterways
How much do you know about the rivers, streams, lakes and creeks closest to your home? These waters are vital to local life—and they provide much more than drinking water.
Just north of our home in Austin, Texas’s own Colorado River snakes through the city on its way to Matagorda Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. To the north, Shoal Creek joins the river. Flowing south, the small east and west branches of Bouldin Creek slip quietly through city neighborhoods, hosting gulf coast toads, snapping turtles, broad-winged hawks, northern mockingbirds, and a whole bunch of warblers—to name a fraction of the creek’s creatures.
Bouldin’s larger cousin, Barton Creek, moves southwest through Austin forming the city’s iconic greenbelt before flowing on through the Texas Hill Country. At its northern edge, you’ll find Barton Springs pool, fed by the Edwards Aquifer—a layer of water-saturated limestone. Here, the endangered Barton Springs salamander lives. And here too hundreds of thousands of humans come each year to swim in its cool waters.
These waters feed our communities, providing habitat, solace, spaces of quiet reflection and, yes, drinking water for plants, humans, and other animals.
And flowing right under our noses, our waterways are stressed out.
Waterways—I love that word, because it implies more than the ways of the water itself, but it poses a question to us all. What are our ways with water? What others ways might we act to protect them?
Preserving our waters
Ponds, lakes, creeks and rivers are more than mere scenery. Healthy waterways ensure clean drinking water, support thriving ecosystems and enhance the resilience of our communities against climate change.
Waterways nationwide are increasingly threatened by pollution, climate change, and trash. As one of the many creatures that thrive because of local water, and the creatures with the most power to make changes, it’s time to learn more about our waterways so that we can be protectors and stewards.
On being a good steward
To be a steward is to care for, protect, and be accountable for something you value. With our collective stewardship, we can hold back the damages of climate change, even if we cannot fully reverse it.
And what does that look like? How can we change our water ways in order to preserve our waterways?
Ways with Water:
Use less: From shorter showers to planting drought tolerant local plants instead of thirsty grass, we can reduce the strain on our local waters.
Don’t flush chemicals: Never dispose of chemicals, medications, or other harmful substances down drains or toilets.
Use less plastic: So much of the trash and pollution found in water—from tiny ponds to the Pacific ocean, is plastic.
Pick up after your pets: Always clean up after your pets. Pet waste can introduce harmful bacteria into our water systems..
Volunteer for a clean up: A quick Google search and you’ll likely find regular clean up crews looking for volunteers to maintain your local waters.
Support environmental legislation: Join the email list of your local conservation groups. They’ll let you know when to advocate for policies that protect your water resources and
Acting locally—How to learn about your local waters
Sometimes the world’s problems feel overwhelming. We cannot, as individuals, reverse climate change, solve homelessness, or remove all the plastic from the oceans. It’s easier to throw our hands up and go back to our day to day lives without action.
And yet we are powerful in our local places, with the ability to directly affect the people and places around us with small, daily actions. The more visible our actions, the more we find others already in the work, and the more we may inspire still more to join in.
And before we know it, we’re not acting as individuals anymore, but in community.
Resources to learn about your local waters:
EPA’s How’s My Waterway: Enter your location to learn about local waterways, their habitats and the quality of the water.
Google Maps and Google Earth: Play around using layers and looking for rivers, creeks and ponds near you. Once you find a waterway, search using its name to learn more.
U.S. Geological Survey’s Streamer: Find and trace streams and rivers all over the U.S. with the Streamer interactive map.
Your local city parks and government websites: Try searching city and county websites for more information about waterways and conservation efforts in your community.