Here’s a question I get a lot — “How can we not use the word watershed?” “What word can I use instead?” The answer is that the best substitute for “watershed” is to tell or ask somebody to make a difference, instead.
Compare these two signs I photographed while out riding my bike last weekend. Here is a sign that works:
And here is one that doesn’t:
The habit of nature protection and pollution control experts is to explain too much, and ask too little. If you find yourself wrestling for a substitute for the w-word, you’re probably falling into that trap.
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To be honest, I like the second one best … but then again, I am a hydrologist. There is an art to signs: but by there very nature you don’t want to clutter them up, and not include too much fine print. Signs are sort of fascinating in that way, … DOT has recently changed its font to make them more clearer to read from a distance.
I think the second sign could have been improved if the words “a part of the” were put before Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Of course to really make it WWTW-worthy it should have said “Four Mile Run” ~~~~~ “flows to Chesapeake Bay”
I love that you featured the bilingual sign by Friends of the Occoquan. I had the opportunity to go out and meet them two years ago to learn about their work in NoVa and did a little web feature about it: http://www.chesapeakebay.net/news_occoquan2006.aspx. The org is run by a husband and wife who are the nicest, most inspirational people I think I’ve ever met in my life. They are an excellent example of people who are just trying to make a difference in their community and reach out to those audiences (Hispanics) that the environmental community often leaves behind with their messages of “hydrology” and “watersheds.”