The Basin:

• Drains 27,500 square miles, covering half the land area of Pennsylvania and portions of New York and Maryland.
• Comprises 43 percent of the Chesapeake Bay's drainage area.
• Accounts for 45.7 percent (24,272 miles) of Pennsylvania's 53,172 stream miles. The remaining 54.3 percent are in the Ohio River Basin (37.9% - 20,150 miles), the Delaware River Basin (12.6% - 6,683 miles), and the Potomac River Basin (3.8% - 2,067 miles).
• Is made up of 60 percent forest lands.
• Has a population of 3.8 million.
• Is home of the native Brook Trout fish species.
• Loses about 446 million gallons of water per day during peak consumptive water uses. (The Susquehanna River Basin Commission defines consumptive water uses as water that is withdrawn from the basin but not returned to the basin.) That number is projected to increase to over 645 million gallons per day by the year 2010.
• Is one of the most flood prone areas in the entire nation, experiencing a major devastating flood on average every 20 years. The basin's average annual flood damages (in 1993 dollars) is $113 million dollars.

The River:

• Flows 444 miles from its headwaters at Otsego Lake near Cooperstown, N.Y., to Havre de Grace, Md., where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay.

• Is the largest tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, providing 90 percent of the fresh water flows to the upper half of the bay and 50 percent overall. (The Chesapeake Bay was formed some 10,000 years ago when the lower portion of what was then the Susquehanna River was flooded by rising sea levels.)

• Is the longest commercially nonnavigable river in North America.

• Is the 16th largest river in the United States.

• Is the largest river lying entirely within the United States that drains into the Atlantic Ocean.

• Is almost one mile wide at Harrisburg, Pa.

• Flows about 20 miles per day on an average summer day.

• Has a normal flow of about 18 million gallons per minute at Havre de Grace, Md.