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Water is a precious resource central to sustaining life on earth. Water is used by all people on the planet to nourish our bodies, grow food, transport goods, maintain cleanliness, regulate temperature, and provide recreation. Water supports life on earth by maintaining and regulating climatic conditions, and nourishing all plants and animals. Water is central to life itself and belongs to everyone.

Water resources are managed and regulated at federal, state, and local levels. This submodule focuses primarily on federal information resources, but is important to keep in mind that all olevels of government are actively interested in, and concerned with water resources. As a consequence, a complete understanding of information resources for any specific region, relies on consideration of state and local agency information in addition to federal.

The primary federal agencies with concern for water resources are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. All play a central role in the understanding, regulation, and sharing of this most crucial resource.

Environmental concerns such as water quality, water contamination and water pollution are covered in the Environment Module, although some overlap is to be expected.

Content

Guides to Resources

• Overview of US Geological Survey Water Program
• Overview of Environmental Protection Agency Water Page
• Overview of Natural Resources Conservation Service Water Page
• Water Resources A-Z Subject File
• Additional Water Resources
  

Resource Exercises

• List of Tutorials for water resources
• Watershed Case Study - locating and learning about a local watershed
• Water Use Case Study - find out about water use in specific states and counties