You may not know it, but, yes, you do live in a bowl like a goldfish.

It's not a glass bowl. It's a bowl formed in the landscape. All the water that falls onto the land around you is in your bowl. The trees and farm fields and fish near you are also in the bowl with you. When water runs down the sides of your bowl, most of it enters the rivers and lakes. The rivers and lakes are part of the bowl we're talking about.

Now if you've ever had a goldfish in a bowl, you know that if the water gets too dirty or contaminated with chemicals, the fish dies. That's true of your bowl too.

Your bowl has a name, no matter where you live. If you happen to live in east central Wisconsin, the name of your bowl is the Fox-Wolf basin, or Fox-Wolf watershed. Check out the maps on the pages ahead and learn more about where your community fits.