Drainage basin

A drainage basin is like a big bowl carved out of the ground where all the rainwater, snowmelt, and other water from the land around it collects.

Imagine you're playing in a sandbox that has a low side and a high side. When you pour water into the low side, it runs to the high side until it can't go any further. That's how a drainage basin works! When it rains or snows, the water flows from the high ground to the low ground - into the drainage basin.

The drainage basin includes all of the land, hills, and valleys that drain into a particular river, lake, or ocean. It's basically all the land that water passes through on its way to a big body of water.

So when it rains on a hill, the water runs down the hill into the stream or river that flows through the basin. Then, all the water from all the streams and rivers in the basin join together and flow into the bigger body of water.

Everything that happens on the land in the drainage basin affects the quality and quantity of water that flows into the river, lake, or ocean. That's why it's important to protect and take care of our drainage basins, so that we can have clean and sufficient water for all the plants, animals, and people who live there.