A watershed, sometimes called a catchment area, is an area of land which collects water — from rain, snow or other types of precipitation — stores it and releases it into the same waterway, be it a stream, lake, wetland or aquifer, and eventually the sea.

Watersheds supply drinking water.

Because water is a solvent and carries with it anything in the soil with which it makes contact, nearby forests, agricultural holdings and human settlements affect watersheds. What we do on the land affects water quality for communities living downstream.

There are 26 watershed management units in Jamaica, classified as least degraded, less degraded, degraded and severely degraded.

The Yallahs and Hope River Watershed at a glance:

* Covers 44,486 hectares on southern slopes of Blue Mountain range

* Includes nearly 10 per cent of Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park * Represents seven per cent of the island’s farmland

* Provides livelihoods for 15,000 farmers

* Produces 42 per cent of the water for over 660,000 people in Kingston Metropolitan Area

* Yallahs River provides water for agricultural livelihoods in the Yallahs basin

* Hope River flows into Palisadoes-Port Royal Protected Area, a wetland of international importance know for its high level of endemism

* Classified as severely degraded