New signs popping up along the Long Island Expressway are designed to raise awareness about the local environment.

One of the new signs reads "Entering Long Island Sound Watershed."

A watershed is the land area that drains down to streams, rivers and creeks into saltwater estuaries.

Greg Williams, an environmentalist with the state Department of Transportation, says the signs were placed at three of Long Island's watershed locations along the LIE as part of an education program.

"The watershed signs show you the land that drains to a river, even though there is no water body in sight, any pollution that ends up in a watershed could end up in those water and bays," says Williams.

Adrienne Esposito, from the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, applauds the DOT's new signs.

"I think it teaches people that on Long Island, no matter where you are, you are in the watershed of one of Long Island's three estuaries," she says.

The three estuaries are the Long Island Sound, the Peconic Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.