Innovating for a More Equitable and Sustainable Water Future
Welcome to the SWPA Water Network, a coalition of organizations working to improve water quality and access in the Upper Ohio River Basin. Our mission is to promote sustainable water management practices and ensure that everyone in the region has access to clean, safe, and affordable water. With a focus on collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and community engagement, we are working to address the key water-related challenges facing our region, from climate change and stormwater runoff to agricultural practices and public awareness. Join us in our efforts to protect and preserve our most vital natural resource - water.
OUR LATEST NEWS
Catching Heat: How Appalachia Could Put Data Center Waste Heat to Work
A ReImagine Appalachia report by Deborah D. Stine, PhD, looks at how waste heat from data centers could warm greenhouses, public buildings and factories, and cut cooling water use, if communities plan for it up front.
A Court Said There Is No Right to Clean Water. Pennsylvania’s Constitution Disagrees.
A federal appeals court ruled that the US Constitution gives no right to safe drinking water. Pennsylvania’s constitution says otherwise: Article I, Section 27 guarantees a right to pure water. The question is whether we use it.
Data Centers Could Cool on Dirty, Salty Water Instead of Rivers, Study Finds
A University of Texas study finds that desalination could turn brackish groundwater and oil and gas wastewater into data center cooling water, keeping server farms off freshwater, with technology we already have.
Washington Starts Clearing Its Flood-Clogged Streams, by Hand and by the Rules
After four flash floods this summer, the city of Washington is starting a cleanup of debris and sediment clogging culverts and streams across the city, done mostly by hand and under DEP’s rules to protect the streams.
A Tree Has Two Jobs. A New Webinar Series Covers Both.
River Network and Anthropocene Alliance are hosting five weekly webinars on climate resilience, from grant monitoring to buffer zones, every Thursday at 3 p.m. ET from October 22 through November 19.
Stormwater Fees on Trial: Williamsport and Pittsburgh Cases Could Settle the Tax Question
After the Supreme Court’s West Chester ruling, two cases involving the Williamsport Sanitary Authority and PWSA will decide whether Pennsylvania authorities can keep charging stormwater fees.
Mountain Watershed Association: DEP’s Landfill Leachate Study Raises More Questions Than It Answers
MWA’s review of DEP’s radium-in-leachate study argues the agency used the wrong standard, averaged away six exceedances, and skipped a real risk assessment. Three of the landfills sit in the Yough watershed.
Records Show Mingo County’s Orange Creek Was Mine Drainage, Not Railroad Mud
Residents were told Rockhouse Fork turned orange from railroad ditch work. FOIA records show an abandoned mine was flagged to the state spill hotline before the public got that story.
PA DEP Environmental Education Grants Are Open Through November 13
About $420,000 is available in DEP’s 2027 Environmental Education Grants round. Watershed groups, schools, and conservation districts can apply through November 13, 2026.
The Federal Water Funding Surge Is Over, and a 60 Percent Drop May Be Next
The infrastructure law’s $43.4 billion supplement to the State Revolving Funds expired September 30. Analysts project federal water funding could fall 60 percent next year, and small basin systems feel it first.
Wheeling Shows Its Homework: What a Source Water Protection Plan Looks Like in Practice
Wheeling’s three-year update of its Source Water Protection Plan maps hundreds of tanks and facilities above its Ohio River intake. It is a model worth copying anywhere in the basin.
Data Centers Keep Coming, and Nobody Is Adding Up the Water
New WITF reporting shows AI data centers draw on Pennsylvania water twice, for cooling and for power, while a Bucknell watershed scientist warns no agency reviews the cumulative toll on any one watershed.
