This is just one post in the Other Oceans & Beaches Stories Category

Dan Haifley, Our Ocean Backyard: Hidden creeks flow to the ocean

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 16, 2008 at 6:10 am

From the Mercury News:

You may not notice them as they meander, quietly, behind our parks and our streets and near our homes, carrying water to our estuaries, bays and to the ocean.

But some of you may have noticed those round blue signs next to area roadways. They identify creeks or rivers that you may have passed many times but you never knew existed. In Santa Cruz County, these signs are part of an effort by the Resource Conservation District to increase public awareness of local watersheds thanks to funding from the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, the California Coastal Conservancy, the city of Santa Cruz Water Department and others. This and similar efforts in the region install signs identifying creeks and watershed boundaries, which complements work to reduce pollutants that flow to our rivers, creeks and the ocean.

The term watershed describes a land area from which water flows downhill to a single spot. Water drains both underground and on the surface into streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries, eventually reaching the ocean. The major watersheds that send water into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary include the Carmel River, Salinas River, Pajaro River, San Lorenzo River, Gazos Creek, Scott Creek and Elkhorn Slough. To see a map of the major watersheds in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary region, visit http://montereybay.noaa.gov/monitoringnetwork/map.html.

The health of the ocean is influenced by the quality of the water that flows into it.