to both sides precede the 90-degree turn to the south, a feature that gave Moncton its original name, Le Coude (The Elbow). The river passes Dieppe on its eastern side and Hillsborough on its western side before it approaches its mouth. The Memramcook River, which has a watershed area of joins the Petitcodiac River near its mouth. The Petitcodiac River then widens and drains into Shepody Bay, where there is a wetland. Once past the Hopewell Rocks, Shepody Bay merges with the Cumberland Basin, which runs south-west toward Chignecto Bay. Chignecto Bay drains into the Bay of Fundy, which flows into the Gulf of Maine, which proceeds south-east into the Atlantic Ocean through the Northeast Channel. Watershed The Petitcodiac River watershed is about . The average yearly precipitation in the watershed is , with average temperatures of in the summer and in the winter. The watershed is located in the Kings, Westmorland, and Albert counties in south-east New Brunswick, with some of it crossing into the Caledonian Highlands to the south-east. It borders the Bay of Fundy and three other designated watersheds in the province: the lower Saint John River to the north-west, the Shediac Bay to the north-east, and the Kennebecasis River to the south. Although the Petitcodiac River's watershed is geographically distinct from that of the nearby Memramcook River, some groups merge the two for categorisation purposes. The area has been occupied by Europeans since the late 17th century. Moncton's population has grown rapidly since the 19th century, rising from fewer than 100 people in 1825, to over 15,000 people in 1917, and to 126,000 people in 2006. In spite of this growth, most of the area remains relatively undisturbed: 80 percent of the watershed is covered with forest, a tenth is used for agriculture and three percent is occupied by wetlands. Only four percent of the area is used for commercial, residential, or private usage. Nevertheless, the Petitcodiac Watershed Monitoring Group noted in 2001 that this growth is one of the main factors for the ongoing "environmental degradation" of the river. Hydrology Water quality The Petitcodiac River was listed in 2003 as the most endangered river in Canada by Earthwild International, and was listed second, behind Quebec's Rupert River, in 2002. The causeway was cited as one of the major factors behind the river's degraded health. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment's Water Quality Index