Water: Office of Wetlands, Oceans & Watersheds
Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds
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View the Text Version (PDF) (5 pp, 37K, About PDF) of the Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds video
Current Highlights
Fact sheet on EPA resources to facilitate watershed management (PDF) (4 pp, 3.4MB, About PDF)
National Lakes Assessment Report
Report of the State-EPA Nutrient Innovations Task Group
OWOW 2010 Annual Report (PDF) (20 pp, 5.6MB, About PDF)
Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force
Chesapeake Bay Executive Order 
EPA Water Quality Video Contest
Subscribe to Watershed Academy Webcast podcasts
We all live in a watershed — the area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, aquifer, or even the ocean — and our individual actions can directly affect it. Working together using a watershed approach will help protect our nation's water resources. Wetlands are important elements of a watershed because they serve as the link between land and water resources. Oceans, coasts, and estuaries provide critical natural habitat and recreational areas for our nation. With coastal populations increasing, pressures on oceans and coastal waters are growing.
OWOW has launched a new outreach campaign to help spread the word about the findings from the National Lakes Assessment (NLA). According to the NLA, poor lakeshore habitat and excess nutrients are leading stressors affecting the quality of our nation's lakes. Download our new Natural Lakeshores Widget and help spread the word about clean lakes and healthy lakeshores. The widget includes a series of ten tips for improved shoreline stewardship focusing on natural lakeshores.
Recent News and Updates
- February 19, 2013: Registration is now open for March 6, 2013 Watershed Academy Webcast on "Water Quality Exchange: A Tool for Tribes, Volunteer Monitors and Others to Share WQ Data"
- February 19, 2013: Archived version of "New Recreational Criteria to Better Protect Public Health" webcast is now available
- January 3, 2013: Registration is now open for January 30, 2013 Watershed Academy Webcast on "New Recreational Criteria to Better Protect Public Health"
- December 10, 2012: Archived version of "How's My Waterway? and Other Water Quality Apps" is now available
- November 20, 2012: Watershed News: November 2012