Grass Roots: Water Runs Down Hill

Everyone lives in a watershed, though few of us realize it. A watershed is part of Nature’s cycle of rainfall – storing runoff water in the ground for future use and returning water to the air. We alter the patterns of runoff by bulldozing the land, clearing the trees and vegetation and paving over the ground. The water has nowhere to go except in huge torrents that tear up our creek beds, wash dirt and litter into our rivers, and create erosion, pollution and flooding.

We can do better. Alan Sealls and Dr. George Crozier explain the nature of our coastal watersheds. Dr. Kevin White discusses alternate storm water management practices. and Malcolm Steeves outlines the problems caused to our water system. Terry Plauche tells us about the value of trees. The City of Orange Beach shows us the dramatic changes they have made in order to lessen storm water damage, and Biloxi’s tree and park programs after Katrina are outlined.

A partnership of:
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Mississippi/Alabama Sea Grant Consortium
- WKRG-TV
- The City of Orange Beach
- The University of South Alabama Engineering Department,
- grassroots, inc.

The Gulf Coast is an area of storms, high winds and heavy rainfall. We can do a better job of building in this fragile environment by developing better building codes, preserving trees and open spaces. We need to be better educators on teaching our communities how to respect the protective nature of our beaches and wetlands.

We must become more aware that we can work with our environment instead of bulldozing, clearing and paving it. We can litter less. We can work with our communities to lessen our damage from storms and we can make our recovery more cost-effective for us and for our communities.
Today, we can begin to clear up our beautiful waters so our kids and generations beyond can enjoy them.