The York River watershed drains approximately 2,600 square miles of land. The York River watershed includes all of the area flowing into the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Rivers and their many tributaries. The Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers begin in the Blue Ridge Mountains and meander through the Piedmont (a plateau region between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains). Major cities in the watershed include Ashland, Gloucester Point, Hampton, and West Point. The census population for 2000 in the watershed was 372,488. (Based on information in Dauer, et al., 2005 and York River and Small Coastal Basins Roundtable.)
