A watershed is an area of land that drains to a common body of water. Everyone is part of a watershed. The City of Lima is part of the Ottawa River watershed. There are over 37,000 people living in Lima and even more live in the entire Ottawa River watershed. If everyone in the Ottawa River made small adjustments to their everyday life, it would make a huge difference in water quality.

You can do things like mow your grass to only 3 inches, keep fertilizer and grass clipping in your yard and off hard surfaces, and pick up your pet’s waste. If everyone did these simple things, the health of Allen County’s rivers and streams would significantly increase. See below for simple ways you can improve water quality in our rivers and streams.

The purple area is the Ottawa River watershed.

Closeup of the Ottawa River watershed.