wä-ter-shed (n.): the geological & geographical area of land that contributes or drains water through its springs, seeps, ditches, pools, culverts, marshes, swamps, & streams to the same body of water.

The area’s highest ridges form the boundary between two watersheds. At these boundaries, rain falling on one side flows toward the low point of one watershed, while rain falling on the other side of the boundary flows toward the low point of a different watershed. No matter where you are, you are in a watershed. No matter what you do, it likely involves and impacts that entire watershed. John Wesley Powell, a prominent 19th century geologist & ethnologist, put it best when he defined a watershed as “that area of land…within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course & where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.”

 The Canandaigua Lake watershed encompasses 174 square miles located primarily in Ontario & Yates counties (Click Here for a Watershed Map). Its drainage point is Canandaigua Lake, the third largest Finger Lake, weighing in at 15.5 miles in length, a depth of 276 feet, & a holding capacity of 429 billion gallons of water which, among other things, provides drinking water to approximately 60,000 people.

 41% of the land area in the Canandaigua Lake watershed is forested, more than 27% is agricultural, around 10% is used for residential or commercial purposes, 6% is wetland & 17% is in transition. Its geography is characterized by steep southern slopes (highest point at Gannett Hill - 2,256 feet above sea level) which gradually diminish to the north as the land rolls into the low relief of the Erie-Ontario Lake Plain. Our watershed supports a healthy & dynamic range of fish & wildlife communities with diverse habitats including marshes, abundant waterways, agricultural fields, a significant wetland system, & vast stretches of forested lands.
 
The ways in which human activities impact our watershed are numerous.  As water drains off the land or leaches into the groundwater it carries with it a signature of our cultural relationship to our environment. The purpose of the watershed management plan is to reduce our negative influence on the landscape therefore increasing the lake’s water quality.

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© Canandaigua Lake Watershed Council 2002

This Page Last Updates On: November 23, 2005