Conservation and Water Trails

Freshwater Conservation

We know we need clean drinking water in order to live. But rivers and lakes – freshwater ecosystems – provide much more. They water our crops, give us fish to eat, power our factories and light our homes, carry goods to market and people back home, and bring us joy.

Yet every day we waste and spoil a staggering amount of the water nature gives us. Experts warn that within the next 20 years more than half the world’s population could face water shortages. It doesn’t have to be this way.

There are practical solutions – and new ones are being forged – that can help us work together to strike a balance between meeting our needs today and preserving nature’s ability to continue meeting our needs in the future but we must take bold action now.

Taking Action

Drawing on fifty years of on-the-ground experience, the Conservancy is engaged at 600 water sites in 30 countries, employing rigorous science, business savvy and an unwavering commitment to collaboration – because that’s what works. We are focusing on strategies that align with our greatest strengths and that hold the most promise for large-scale, enduring success:

Protecting land to protect clean water. By preserving the health of land around rivers and lakes – the watershed – we can keep pollution out of our water.

Keeping rivers flowing in healthy ways. We can preserve the benefits that rivers give us by preserving the patterns of high and low flow that orchestrate life in and along rivers.

Averting water scarcity by reducing waste. We can dramatically reduce water waste by giving large users – businesses, farms and cities – tools to use water more wisely.

Read more about our conservation solutions:

Reducing the Ecological Impact of Dams

Reconnecting Floodplains with Rivers

Protecting Watersheds and Water Supplies for Cities

Changing Water Policies to Protect Environmental Flows

Promoting Sustainable Agricultural Practices

Protecting Coastal Rivers and Estuaries

Guarding Freshwater Ecosystems from Invasive Species

Sustaining Ecosystem Resilience to Climate Change

Aquatic Ecosystems: Connecting Water, Land, People, and Wildlife

Wetlands, rivers, lakes, and coastal estuaries are all aquatic ecosystems—critical elements of Earth’s dynamic processes and essential to human economies and health.

Wetlands connect land and water, serving as natural filters, reducing pollution, controlling floods, and acting as nurseries for many aquatic species. Rivers, lakes, and estuaries serve as important transportation, recreation, and wildlife hubs.

Learning more about the ecosystems within your watershed—all the water in your region that drains to the same point—can help you better understand how everything is connected and what is at stake with freshwater overuse, pollution, and drought.

Fast Facts

Global extinction rates for freshwater species are four to six times higher than those for terrestrial or marine species.

Forty percent of all fish species in North America are at risk of extinction.

In the U.S., 69 percent of freshwater mussel species, which help to filter water, are at risk of extinction.

Did You Know?

Freshwater ecosystems cover less than one percent of Earth’s surface, but are home to 35 percent of all vertebrate species.

The Heartbeat Of A River

How We Protect Watersheds