Surfrider Foundation A-Z: The Letter 'W'

The Letter 'W':

Water Quality: Health Threats from Polluted Coastal Waters
Watershed: A geographic area in which all sources of water, including rain fall, snow melt, streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries, and wetlands, as well as ground water, drain to a common surface water body, usually the sea.
Water Table: The upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with water. A water table may be within a few inches beneath the ground surface, or many feet below it.
Wetland: Land where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface. Wetlands vary widely because of regional and local differences in soils, topography, climate, hydrology, water chemistry, vegetation, and other factors, including human disturbance. Indeed, wetlands are found from the tundra to the tropics and on every continent except Antarctica. Read the additional, informative Surfrider article, Wetlands - Why You Should Care