What You Can Do To Protect Your Watershed

1. Protect your watershed from development. Find out about the state of your watershed and join your nearest watershed preservation society at www.epa.gov/win and www.epa.gov/adopt.

2. Buy the products of local and organic farms that use sound watershed-protection practices. To find Catskills farms, see www.Farmtotable.org. For organic farms in your locale, see www.care2.com/near_home/getlocal_list_all.html.

3. Don't buy bottled water. Use thermoses or reuseable hard plastic bottles, to bring water with you, instead.

4. Conserve water. Take shorter showers; don't let taps and hoses run. Consider water-saving clothes washers, showerheads and toilets. See "Watersaving Appliances" product report.

5. Prevent water pollution by reducing runoff and using nontoxic home and yard pest control. See "What You Can Do for the Oceans" list in GG #97.

6. Support pro-forest initiatives. Soil erosion due to forest depletion results in water pollution worldwide. Support pro-forest initiatives by buying sustainable wood products such as those bearing the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) label.