Online Resources – Water Pollution
Topic Key
Interactive Tools
How's My Waterway?
"How's My Waterway was designed to provide the general public with information about the condition of their local waters based on data that states, federal, tribal, local agencies and others have provided to EPA. Water quality information is displayed on 3 scales in How’s My Waterway; community, state and national. More recent or more detailed water information may exist that is not yet available through EPA databases or other sources."
Source: U.S. EPA
Model My Watershed - Runoff Simulation
The Runoff Simulation is an animated version of the Site Storm Model package of Model My Watershed. It allows users to learn how land use and soil together determine whether rainfall infiltrates into the soil, runs off into streams or is evaporated and transpired by plants."
Source: Stroud Water Research Center
Pontchartrain Basin Watersheds
This interactive map allows users to visualize watersheds, subbasins, urban areas, impaired waterways, and rivers in the Pontchartrain Basin.
Source: Pontchartrain Conservancy
WATERS GeoViewer
"The EPA Office of Water’s Watershed Assessment, Tracking and Environmental Results System (WATERS) integrates water-related information by linking it to the NHDPlus stream network. The National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) provides the underlying geospatial hydrologic framework that supports a variety of network-based capabilities, including upstream/downstream search and watershed delineation."
Source: U.S. EPA
Useful Websites
U.S. EPA: Polluted Runoff
"Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is caused when rainfall or snowmelt, moving over and through the ground, picks up and carries natural and human-made pollutants, depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters. Learn the basics of NPS pollution."
Source: U.S. EPA
The Watershed Game
"The Watershed Game is an interactive, educational tool that helps individuals understand the connection between land use and water quality. Participants learn how a variety of land uses impact water and natural resources, increase their knowledge of best management practices (BMPs), and learn how their choices can prevent adverse impacts. Participants apply the tools of plans, practices, and policies that help them achieve clean water goals for protection and restoration while providing for community growth. "
Source: University of Minnesota / Minnesota Sea Grant
Community Science Projects
Creek Critters
"Audubon Naturalist Society’s Creek Critters® app walks you through finding and identifying the small organisms – or critters – that live in freshwater streams and creating stream health reports based on your findings."
Source: Audubon Naturalist Society
Leaf Pack Network
"The Leaf Pack Network is an international network of teachers, students, and citizen monitors investigating their local stream ecosystems. Following instructions in the Leaf Pack Network Manual, monitors use tree leaves and aquatic insects to determine the health of their stream and understand its ecology."
Source: Stroud Water Research Center