Watershed management is the process of implementing land use practices and water management practices to protect and improve the quality of water and other natural resources within a watershed by managing the use of those land and water resources in a comprehensive manner. The goal of watershed management is to sustain and enhance watershed functions that affect the plant, animal, and human communities within the watershed boundary. The following are some key features of watershed management:

• Water supply: One of the features of a watershed that agencies seek to manage is water supply.

• Water quality: Another feature of a watershed that agencies seek to manage is water quality. Watershed management planning comprehensively identifies those activities that affect the health of the watershed and makes recommendations to properly address them so that adverse impacts from pollution are reduced.

• Drainage: Watershed management also involves managing drainage and stormwater runoff.

• Water rights: Watershed management includes managing water rights and the overall planning and utilization of watersheds.

• Partnership: Watershed management is important because the planning process results in a partnership among all affected parties in the watershed. That partnership is essential to the successful management of the land and water resources in the watershed since all partners have a stake in the health of the watershed.

• Environmental laws: Environmental laws often dictate the planning and actions that agencies take to manage watersheds. Some laws require that planning be done, others can be used to make a plan legally enforceable, and others set out the ground rules for what can and cannot be done in development and planning.

Landowners, land use agencies, stormwater management experts, environmental specialists, water use surveyors, and communities all play an integral part in watershed management. Successful watershed management requires a comprehensive planning process that involves all affected municipalities located in the watershed.