I have a riddle for you. What do you need to live that covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface? If you said chocolate milk you seriously need help.

It’s precious water! You see my school, Crestwood Elementary, is trying to be a Level 3 green school. We recycle, preserve power, compost, and now to get to Level 3 we need to preserve water. One of the assignments is to research where your school gets water and write a report on that water source. Today I will be telling you about where Crestwood gets its water.

So, where does it come from? Well, the Green River Watershed supplies water to Tacoma Water, city of Kent, Covington Water, and Lakehaven Water District. This forested land is covered by the Cascade Mountains on three sides, and is gated off on the other to prevent often visiting. Also, the area is basically a large retention pond for melted snow and seasonal rainfall. The watershed is Tacoma’s main water source. Just before World War I, the city of Tacoma filed for water rights for the Green River. They have managed the Green River for more than 90 years. But then again, they only own 10 percent of it. Tacoma has a 15/36 partnership share, Lakehaven, Kent, and Covington each have a 7/36 partnership share.

You probably won’t believe this at first but trust me, I’m not lying. The Green River Watershed covers 177,394 acres of land on the west flank of the Cascade Mountains between the Chinook and Snoqualme passes. OMG that is big! The watershed is also 65 miles long! I wouldn’t want to take a swim test there! There are two diversions in the watershed. In the first diversion, 73 million gallons of water is distributed each day! With a follow-up of 65 million gallons in the second diversion! Another really interesting thing about the Green River Watershed is the fact that it flows by gravity, which reduces expensive pumping costs. Now, you’re probably wondering, are there any fish in the watershed. Yes there are — there is a very large amount of salmon in the area. In 2007 an abundance of salmon was released into the upper area of the Green River Watershed. The move was preparing that area of the watershed for future spawning and survival. The salmon hadn’t accessed the hundreds of miles of rivers and streams since the system was built in 1911.

With the completion of the second supply pipeline, they modified the area for fish passage. The fish will now be able to swim up into large holding tanks. Furthermore, transport trucks move them back to the upper watershed. There was recently a large releasing of pink salmon. So, you probably realized that Crestwood does know where their water comes from! You’ve zoomed up on just one of hundreds of watersheds.

Hopefully now that you have learned so much, next time you see a river, you will look at it with new eyes.

Annie Livengood of Covington is an aspiring journalist and sixthgrader at Crestwood Elementary.