Watershed Primer--what is a watershed?

What is a watershed? A recent survey of residents in Williamsburg/James City County indicated that a majority of people do not know the definition of a watershed.  Basically, a watershed is a section of land that drains to a common location, i.e., a catch basin or drainage basin.  It is all the land surrounding a body of water that-when it rains-drains to that body of water.  Land typically is located above the level of the water in streams and lakes, so naturally water flows downhill and collects in those streams and lakes.

See https://www.wm.edu/as/kecklab/watershedmonitoring/watershedprimer/index.php for the rest of the article.