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Fixing leaks around the home doesn’t have to mean hard labor, just a little elbow grease. U.S. households waste up to one trillion gallons each year on easy-to-fix water leaks. Taking a few minutes over the approaching Labor Day weekend to fix leaks around your home could save enough water each year to fill a [...]

Have you ever wandered local beaches and found six-foot long seaweed? Did you wonder what it was?  This seaweed is called bull kelp and is common to the Washington coast and Puget Sound.  It grows on rocky shores and can form huge kelp forests that provide habitat for crabs, sea stars, juvenile salmon, rockfish and [...]

This is the time of year when many students head back to school. Did you know that up to 20 percent of weekday morning traffic is school-related? Living in areas with lots of traffic can prompt even more parents to drive children to school to ensure safety. Increased traffic and idling vehicles create air pollutants [...]

Earth Gauge Video is available for this tip.
Our urban and suburban development yields miles of paved roads and acres parking lots. Rain water runoff from these surfaces has now become a major source of water pollution in our rivers and streams.  How can we slow down the flow? Trees are a big help. Their leaves [...]

Beavers are excellent builders: they are the only other animal besides humans that create their own wetlands! Beavers live in riparian areas – near the edges of streams. They build dams that stop the flow of water from small streams. Eventually, wetland plants move into the area, creating habitat for animals such as deer, birds [...]

A bog is a type of wetland found mostly in the northern United States that prevents flooding by absorbing excess rainwater. Unlike other types of wetlands, bogs get all or most of their water from precipitation. They are created by the plants that grow within them. Sphagnum moss, also known as peat moss, forms a [...]

Seagrasses are submerged flowering plants found in shallow waters along coasts. Fifty-eight species of seagrasses exist around the world, and six are found in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Florida waters contain the two largest seagrass beds in the continental United States: the Florida Keys and the Florida Big Bend regions. Seagrass beds hold coastal [...]

Seagrasses are submerged flowering plants found in shallow waters along coasts. Fifty-eight (58) species of seagrasses exist around the world, and six are found in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Seagrass beds hold coastal soil in place and reduce the severity of waves. They provide important habitat – food, water and shelter – for marine [...]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Botanic Garden produced this 9-minute video, Reduce Runoff: Slow It Down, Spread It Out, Soak It In.  The video highlights green techniques such as rain gardens, green roofs and rain barrels to help manage stormwater runoff.  Learn more about protecting water quality.
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The United States contains about 40 million acres of coastal wetlands. Coastal wetlands such as salt marshes that provide critical habitat – food, water and shelter – for many species of fish, birds and other animals. Compared to other coastal states, Florida, Texas, California and Louisiana have lost the most coastal marshland. California alone has [...]

May is National Wetlands Month! The United States contains about 40 million acres of coastal wetlands, most of which are found in the Southeast. Coastal wetlands such as salt marshes that provide critical habitat – food, water and shelter – for many species of fish, birds and other animals. Compared to other coastal states, Florida, [...]

May is American Wetlands Month! The United States contains about 40 million acres of coastal wetlands. Coastal wetlands such as salt marshes that provide critical habitat – food, water and shelter – for many species of fish, birds and other animals. From 1998 and 2004, nearly 60,000 acres of these coastal wetlands disappeared per year. [...]

In the United States, soil is eroding at roughly 17 times the rate it is formed!  Soil erosion is a natural process where soil is moved by water or wind.  Soil can impact water quality, reducing a stream or lake’s ability to store water and support plant growth. 
Viewer Tip: You can prevent soil [...]

Did you know that because of impervious surfaces like pavement and rooftops, a typical city block generates more than five times more runoff than a woodland area of the same size?  Much of the land surface in urban and suburban areas is covered by buildings and pavements, which do not allow rain or snow melt [...]

Pools and spas are a great addition to anyone’s home, but when they are drained and cleaned improperly they can pollute lakes, creeks and bays.  Copper is a pollutant that affects aquatic life and is used as an algaecide (a chemical treatment that kills algae) in pools and spas.  Draining pool water into storm drains [...]

Want to create an aesthetically pleasing landscape while improving the health of your watershed?  Wildflower meadows are a great alternative to lawns. They also provide excellent opportunities for storm water management, promoting groundwater infiltration, water quality treatment and flood control.  Using native plants in a meadow helps to preserve native species and biodiversity, creating a [...]

When you think of water conservation, does “moss” come to mind?  As much as 80 percent of water used at home is from outdoor use during the summer months, and most of that water goes towards maintaining the lawn.  On top if that, Americans apply 67 million pounds of pesticides onto their lawns each year!  [...]

You’ve probably heard about carbon footprints, but have you ever thought about water footprints? Freshwater is used for many common activities like showering, watering lawns and brushing teeth.  But did you know that gallons of “hidden” water also go into making many of the products we use every day?  Water is used to needed to [...]

World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) – an international education and outreach program to involve the public in monitoring and protecting [...]

World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) – an international education and outreach program to involve the public in monitoring and protecting [...]