About the Film:

Following the great success of the multi-Emmy award-winning television program Natural Connections, King County Department of Natural Resources is pleased to announce the completion of a companion film focusing on King County's watersheds.

H2Ope for the Future tells the stories of King County's watersheds-the interconnectedness we share with all living things in a watershed-and why it is important to protect our fragile water resources.

The film is ideal for the classroom and anyone interested in understanding the function and value of our local watersheds.

Video Highlights

When rain falls it begins a never-ending cycle. It evaporates or percolates underground or flows along waterways into Puget Sound and the ocean. There it evaporates, forms clouds and falls to earth again.

Water Connects Us All

The drop of rain that falls in the mountains makes our lives possible. It supports the smallest, most sensitive amphibians and the strongest of salmon. And it becomes part of us. Our bodies are two-thirds water. However, ninety-seven percent of the earth's water is contained in the oceans and 2% is frozen. That leaves only 1% as fresh water we can use.

This 1% has to serve all our needs: drinking, washing, watering our lawns, irrigating farmland, and for industrial processes. This 1% is used over and over again in a never ending cycle.

It All Begins in a Watershed

Our watersheds are "natural sinks". Bounded by mountains and hills, the watersheds of King County collect and direct all the water we use in our daily lives to rivers and lakes, eventually draining to Puget Sound and the ocean.

Satellite images of the Puget Sound region show a 40% loss of tree cover in the last 30 years, causing water to run rapidly into streams and rivers, damaging property and washing away salmon eggs and eroding stream banks. Learn more about Watersheds

We All Live Downstream

No matter where we live-near a lake, creek or surrounded by concrete-we are all part of a watershed. What we do, how we treat the land affects the quality of our water and all the creatures that depend on it. Like organs in a body, every part of a watershed is essential. What affects one part affects all parts. The results of what we do in our homes and on our land can extend hundreds of miles downstream. As we go about the business of our lives each of us impacts the watershed day by day, drop by drop. Find out how you can help in: Protecting Watersheds