Watersheds: Easy as 04030201!

Where does your drinking water come from?

Obviously, clean water is essential to life. Watersheds supply drinking water, provide recreation and sustain life (just a little important, right?). Food, fiber, manufactured goods, and tourism depend on clean water and healthy watersheds, too.

Watersheds and drainage basins are natural ups and downs of the land surface that channel rainwater to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, river, etc. The two major rivers in Florence County are the Lynches River and the Great Pee Dee River. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the watershed for the upper area of the County is named the Lower Pee Dee River Basin (numbered 03040201 in the graphic above), containing the Great Pee Dee River. The southern part of the County is part of the Lynches River watershed (labeled ...202), and as the name implies, drains to the Lynches River.

The Pee Dee River has a lot of work to do accepting drainage from Jeffries Creek, Catfish Creek, the Lynches River (yes, one watershed drains into another!), the Little Pee Dee River and the Black River Basin.

Federal water legislation dates back to the nineteenth century when Congress enacted the River and Harbor Act of 1886, recodified in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The principal body of law currently in effect is based on the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972, which significantly expanded and strengthened earlier legislation. Major amendments were enacted in the Clean Water Act of 1977 and the Water Quality Act of 1987.

So you see, protecting our watersheds is imperative for our health and it's federally regulated! The City of Florence has recently completed a project with the help of a local Eagle Scout troop putting up these signs to educate residents on the importance of protecting our watersheds. There are approximately 15 signs installed noting to passersby of adjacent waterways.

Let's all join in the effort to protect Florence County's watershed!