Clean Above

Clean Above means Clean Below!

Why should we care? Because everything that flows over the surface in Rockland County will soak into the ground or flow to surface waters where our drinking water comes from.   Clean Above means Clean Below!  

Cleaner and healthier surfaces and waters above mean cleaner and healthier ground waters below. Keeping your watershed clean has tremendous benefits for your health, your property, your recreation, your drinking water supply, and will ensure its benefit for future generations. 

Everywhere you stand in the world is within a Watershed which is a large area of land where all local waters (streams, lakes and rivers) and all the rainwater that falls into it ultimately drain to one larger, final waterway (see photo below).

Wherever you are standing in Rockland County, the pollutants on the ground, in your yard and in storm drains will flush to the waters within that watershed.   If you are standing within the Hudson River Watershed (see Cornell's Stormwater interactive map), your local waters will ultimately drain to the dynamic and sensitive waters of the Hudson River Estuary , then on to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Not all precipitation that falls in a watershed flows out.  Some will infiltrate to groundwater, which supplies much of Rockland County’s drinking water.  Where does our drinking water come from, and where does our wastewater go? This NYSDEC video explores how.

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Last updated July 27, 2022