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
Logs, Rocks, and Better Fish Habitat Coming to South Branch French Creek
One of the most biologically rich stream systems in the Allegheny watershed is getting some in-stream attention this month. Crews began work September 14 on…
Pittsburgh Water Makes It Easier to Climb Out of Utility Debt
Water debt has a way of compounding: miss a few bills and the past due balance grows faster than most households can pay it down,…
A New Executive Order Takes Aim at the Fees That Pay for Stormwater Fixes
On September 16, the White House signed an executive order that partially rescinds the 2009 Chesapeake Bay cleanup order and, in the same breath, tells…
Roots, Branches, and Hands: Free Native Trees, and a Watershed Reason to Plant Them
Planting season is here, and one of our partners in the wider Pennsylvania conservation community is giving away trees by the thousands. Pennsylvania Interfaith Power…
Heart of the Highlands: A Piano Benefit for the Mountain Watershed Association
Some benefits ask you to sit through a program to get to the cause. This one is the other way around. Heart of the Highlands…
Lead in Blue Hole Creek: MWA Presses DEP for Enforceable Action
Blue Hole Creek is one of those places people in the Laurel Highlands hand down to their kids: a cold, clear swimming hole tucked into…
Stream Restoration Happens in the Woods. You Feel It at Home.
By John Detisch, H2O Water Network We have all heard some version of this story. Someone calls the township shed to thank the crew for…
Pennsylvania Fines Shell $15 Million for Air Pollution at Beaver County Plastics Plant
Pennsylvania has hit Shell with a $15 million penalty for air pollution violations at its Monaca ethane cracker on the Ohio River, one of the…
Washington Wants States to Lead on Disaster Recovery. West Virginia Is Not Ready.
The federal government is moving to hand states the lead role in disaster recovery. New reporting from Mountain State Spotlight lays out an uncomfortable truth:…
Report: More Than Half of Tested Pennsylvania Waterways Had Unsafe Bacteria Levels
A new statewide report card asks a simple question: are Pennsylvania’s rivers and lakes safe for swimming? For more than half of the places tested,…
Twenty-Five Years On, the Flight 93 Memorial Is Also a Mine Drainage Success Story
The field in Somerset County where Flight 93 came down twenty-five years ago is hallowed ground. It is also reclaimed strip mine land, and the…
Second Round of Flash Flooding Hits Eastern Ohio and West Virginia, Watch Continues Into the Weekend
For the second time in eleven days, flash flooding tore through parts of the Upper Ohio basin, and the rain is not finished. A flood…
