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Newsletter and Technical Publications

Lakes and Reservoirs vol. 2

The Watershed: Water from the Mountains into the Sea

We are pleased to introduce Volume 2 of the Short Series about the management of lakes and reservoirs. The present volume entitled “The Watershed: Water from the Mountains into the Sea ” looks at the different components of the Watershed and explains in general terms how they function as well as their characteristics. The Watershed is one of the most important physical,environmental and administrative structures considered by planners for the sound management of river basins together with the surrounding rainfall catchment areas and land use practices.

When referring to the Watershed it is important to realize that we are talking about the whole of the hydrological cycle from rain to water vapor as well as to snow,ice caps, streams,rivers,lakes,reservoirs,wetlands and swamps,ground water as well as river mouths or estuaries. The interaction between the components is fundamental as changes in any of them may have important negative impacts on each other as well as the fauna,flora and the society.

Unfortunately the impacts produced by direct or indirect activities of man in the Watershed can be seen all over the world; rivers which used to have large flows of water into the sea now only have few cubic meters per year during the rainy season; ground water is constantly being degraded due to surface contamination and it is also overexploited causing in many places the ground to sink; wetlands are continuously destroyed reducing the number of habitats hence the possibilities for reproduction of many species of waterfowl and fish; coastal areas suffer heavily from pollution originating from upstream agricultural, industrial and domestic activities; water quality of streams and rivers is also undergoing degradation resulting in health problems of riverine populations. The list of environmental impacts is enormous,therefore there is a need to understand what the watershed is,how it works and the way to look after it.

This volume provides to the reader an overview of the Watershed with the idea of facilitating its understanding and importance. Following the same design of Volume 1 it is written in simple language trying to avoid technical or sophisticated words as far as possible. Volume 2 also includes numerous photographs to illustrate the referred information in the text with additional figures and tables providing comprehensive and easy to read information.

The intrinsic value of the Watershed with its components and the efforts to preserve it are larger than we think and as citizens we have to join efforts with the authorities, industries,agricultural and forestry sectors to ensure its preservation and appropriate or sustainable use either for us or for future generations. We hope you enjoy it.

Steve Halls
Director
United Nations environment Programme
Division of Technology, Industry and Economics
International Environmental Technology Centre

Kei Yamazaki
Director General
International Lake Environment Committee Foundation

• Brochure
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• International Year of Forests
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