What is a Catchment and What Does it Matter to Me?
A catchment is just an area of land where rain falls and flows to a creek.
So everyone lives in a catchment - even if it only rains at your place
once a year.
In urbanised areas, we rarely think about where the water that falls in our
backyards and on our rooves ends up. "It flows down a drain and ends up in the
ocean" is what most of us would say. That's true but inbetween our place and the
ocean is an ancient network of creeks that have probably been filled in with
concrete canals or even piped and built over.
What happens to nice clean rainwater on it's journey through our urban
landscape? First of all, it flows over our lawns and disolves lawn fertiliser,
doggy doo and other chemicals that may be around. It might flow down the road
and pick up the thousands of tiny grit and oil pieces that come from our cars
tires, engines and brakes. As it flows in from all of the streets and suburbs,
think of all the disolved chemicals that it has picked up, not to mention the
floating rubbish.
Where does it all go? Of course, it ends up in any creeks on the way and in
the brisbane river and bay. Well, it's good to get rid of all those chemicals
from our yards and streets but what a terrible impact it has on the environment
surrounding our cities. Would you fancy a prawn caught in moreton bay or a fish
caught in the brisbane river?
Returning to the idea of a catchment, it is not just the water that flows into
the creek that matters. Think about what comes back out. All life needs water
to survive. What do you think happens when the water is polluted? This is why
the concept of a catchment is important. The catchment is like a big
environmental back yard where the hills are the fences and the creek is at the
center of it.
As you can see, catchments are important to think about when you think
about the environment
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