While the community is abuzz with talk of $121 million worth of proposed drainage projects in League City, the term “watershed” is getting a lot of play lately.

In the Bay Area most residents are within the Clear Creek or Dickinson Bayou watersheds, but the area also touches the Armand Bayou watershed. They all feed into Galveston Bay.

The term means “a land area that ultimately drains rainfall runoff or stormwater to a common body of water,” according to the Harris County Flood Control District. That means when it rains, if you live in the Clear Creek watershed, all the rain that is not absorbed into the ground will eventually end up in the creek.

Because the Bay Area is downstream of the Greater Houston area, all stormwater from watersheds north and west of it not absorbed eventually flows through the Bay Area. When you think about how much water that is, you can see how quickly a downpour can cause a problem.