Water is essential for life. People need clean water to drink and wash, and we swim and otherwise play around water. We also eat fish and other water creatures. In addition, clean water is critical for ecosystem health. EPA enforces Federal clean water laws, supports sewage treatment plants, and protects watersheds. Explore this page to learn about our water resources, water pollution, and how you can play a role in protecting your community's water resources.

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About Estuaries
What is an estuary? Why are estuaries important? Why protect estuaries? Learn the answers to these questions and more on this in-depth, easy to understand Web site. Includes links to sites on related material.
www.epa.gov/owow/estuaries/about1.htm

Adopt Your Watershed
Learn about what groups in your area are doing to protect watersheds, and find out how you can help.
www.epa.gov/adopt

America's Wetlands
This site will give you a better understanding of the rich variety of wetlands, their importance, how they are threatened, and what can be done to conserve them for future generations.
www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/vital/toc.html

Animals and Plants in the Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding watershed provide the ideal habitat for many plant and animal species. Learn about the diverse inhabitants of this ecosystem and examine environmental indicators and data related to the Bay.
www.chesapeakebay.net/baybio.htm

Conservation of Marine Mammals and Endangered Species
Learn what the National Marine Fisheries Service is doing to protect animals that live in the sea.
www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/prot_res.html

Coral Reef Protection
This site explores why coral reefs are important and what is being done to protect them.
www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/coral/about.html

Ecosystem Exhibits
Here you can view beautiful pictures of ecosystems throughout the United States. You will also learn about the endangered species that inhabit these areas.
endangered.fws.gov/esysgal.html

Great Lakes Ecopages
This site provides information on the biodiversity of the Great Lakes and the partnerships and habitat restoration techniques being implemented to conserve Great Lakes biodiversity.
www.epa.gov/glnpo/ecopage/

Nature Net
Detailed materials about natural resources that the National Park Service maintains, including biology, geology, air, and water. Water topics include issues related to wetlands, water quality, water rights, and water resources planning/conservation.
www.nature.nps.gov/

NOAA Education Web Site
Explore this site to find the information you need about weather, climate change, estuaries, and oceans. You'll find activities, background information, and much more!
www.education.noaa.gov

Research Vessel Lake Guardian on the Great Lakes
This site provides information on research that is being done on this vessel to help solve environmental problems not only in the Great Lakes but in fresh waters throughout the world.
www.epa.gov/glnpo/guard/ship.html

Southwest Florida Water Management District Interactive Education Resources
Great virtual, interactive field trips that will help you to teach about wetlands and watersheds. Explore Florida's Green Swamp, Hillsborough River and Springs Coast Watershed. Includes lots of other neat resources too such as educational tabloids, teacher's guides, and comprehensive educational kits.
www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/infoed/educators/interactive.htm

Stream Corridor Project
This site provides an explanation of the structure of streams and their role in the environment. It also discusses stream restoration.
www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/acad2000/stream

Surf Your Watershed
A service to help you locate, use, and share environmental information on your watershed or community.
www.epa.gov/surf

Virtual Watershed Tour
Learn about watersheds on this informative virtual tour.
ohiowatersheds.osu.edu/cbwm/virtualwatershed

Visualizing the Great Lakes: Images of a Region
This site offers images representing topical issues surrounding the Great Lakes and the environment.
www.epa.gov/glnpo/image

Watershed Academy 2000 Self Test
Take a test to help you learn about stream corridor restoration.
www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/frans/fran.htm

World Water Monitoring Day
World Water Monitoring Day helps watershed leaders, educators and trained volunteers to educate students and citizens how the actions of individuals in a watershed can impact environmental quality and human health.
www.worldwatermonitoringday.org

Water on Tap: What You Need to Know
Where does your drinking water come from? How is it treated? How do you protect it? This is the place to get the answers to these and other drinking water questions.
www.epa.gov/OGWDW/wot/introtap.html

Water Treatment Process
How do you wash water? Explore this diagram to learn all the steps in cleaning water to make it safe to drink.
www.epa.gov/OGWDW/kids/treat.html

Ground Water Primer
This computer program presents the basic concepts of ground water, the contaminants that can affect water quality along with the risks they pose, activities that an individual or community can do to help protect and conserve ground water, and programs that are now in place to help protect ground water.
www.epa.gov/seahome/groundwater/src/ground.htm

Nature Net
Detailed materials about natural resources that the National Park Service maintains, including biology, geology, air, and water. Water topics include issues related to wetlands, water quality, water rights, and water resources planning/conservation.
www.nature.nps.gov

Chesapeake Bay Restoration
The Chesapeake Bay Program is a regional partnership that directs and conducts the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States.
www.chesapeakebay.net/restrtn.htm

Cleaner Water Through Conservation
An explanation about the relationship between the quantity of water and its quality and discussion of how developing water-use efficiency programs can help States and local communities achieve cleaner water through conserving water.
www.epa.gov/ow/you/intro.html

Ground Water Primer
This computer program presents the basic concepts of ground water, the contaminants that can affect water quality along with the risks they pose, activities that an individual or community can do to help protect and conserve ground water, and programs that are now in place to help protect ground water.
www.epa.gov/seahome/groundwater/src/ground.htm

Nature Net
Detailed materials about natural resources that the National Park Service maintains, including biology, geology, air, and water. Water topics include issues related to wetlands, water quality, water rights, and water resources planning/conservation.
www.nature.nps.gov

RoboCow Flash Movie
It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's RoboCow. Able to leap tall silos in a single bound, this animated environmental advocate uses her radar vision to detect on-farm perils. She maps out solutions to hazards like improperly stored chemicals, pesticide runoff and stream contamination. There are six other videos on water quality and agriculture. You'll need the Flash plug-in to view the clips.
www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/flash/robocow/en/robocow_e.htm

Watershare
Would you like to learn more about water conservation? Check out this site to find information about water conservation in the city and on the farm.
www.usbr.gov/mp

Acid Rain Source Book
This site is a student source book on acid rain, including information on the causes and effects of acid rain and how to measure it. Science experiments and things you can do to learn more about acid rain are also included.
www.epa.gov/airmarkets/acidrain

Cleanup for Kids
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) designed this site to teach you about oil spills and other hazardous chemical accidents. You will find information about how oil spills can occur and how NOAA works to help clean them up. You'll also find experiments you can do to demonstrate the hazards of oil spills.
response.restoration.noaa.gov/kids/kids.html

Environmental Effects of Acid Rain
Fact sheets that define acid rain, its causes, and its effects on our planet.
www.epa.gov/airmarkt/acidrain/effects

Global Water Sampling Project
A collaborative project that allows participants to compare water quality of local water streams, lakes, etc. with other fresh water sources around the world.
www.ciese.org/curriculum/waterproj

Nature Net
Detailed materials about natural resources that the National Park Service maintains, including biology, geology, air, and water. Water topics include issues related to wetlands, water quality, water rights, and water resources planning/conservation.
www.nature.nps.gov

Oil Spill Learning Center
Learn about oil behavior, how to clean up oil, and the effects of an oil spill. In addition, you will find image files and experiments for all ages.
www.epa.gov/oilspill/eduhome.htm

RoboCow Flash Movie
It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's RoboCow. Able to leap tall silos in a single bound, this animated environmental advocate uses her radar vision to detect on-farm perils. She maps out solutions to hazards like improperly stored chemicals, pesticide runoff and stream contamination. There are six other videos on water quality and agriculture. You'll need the Flash plug-in to view the clips.
www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/flash/robocow/en/robocow_e.htm

Water Where You Live
Just click on any State you're interested in and find all about its streams, rivers, and lakes, including water quality data. You can even find out about the beaches.
www.epa.gov/ow/states.html

Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States. This site provides a history of the CWA, a summary of the Act, and links to additional information about the CWA.
www.epa.gov/region5/water/cwa.htm

Envirofacts: EPA's Data Warehouse
A national information system that provides an integrated single point of access to data extracted from six major EPA databases. Find data about public water systems and drinking water.
www.epa.gov/enviro

Environmental Atlas
This site offers an online environmental map collection, links to other important collections, and information to help you understand environmental quality maps, mapping, and environmental information.
www.epa.gov/ceisweb1/ceishome/atlas

Nature Net
Detailed materials about natural resources that the National Park Service maintains, including biology, geology, air, and water. Water topics include issues related to wetlands, water quality, water rights, and water resources planning/conservation.
www.nature.nps.gov

Ocean Science Education Teacher Resource Center
This site links to a large collection of environmental web sites that contain information, activities, and data about a variety of ocean sciences topics.
www.vims.edu/bridge

Research Vessel Lake Guardian on the Great Lakes
This site provides information on research that is being done on this vessel to help solve environmental problems not only in the Great Lakes but in fresh waters throughout the world.
www.epa.gov/glnpo/guard/ship.html

Surf Your Watershed
A service to help you locate, use, and share environmental information on your watershed or community.
www.epa.gov/surf

Visualizing the Great Lakes: Images of a Region
This site offers images representing topical issues surrounding the Great Lakes and the environment.
www.epa.gov/glnpo/image

Water Science for Schools
This site provides extensive background information on a wide variety of water topics. It also includes on-line activities, data tables, maps, and a glossary of terms.
ga.water.usgs.gov/edu

Water Where You Live
Just click on any State you're interested in, and find all about its streams, rivers, and lakes, including water quality data. You can even find out about the beaches.
www.epa.gov/ow/states.html