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
The Public Has Turned on Data Centers, and It Crosses Party Lines
All year we have followed communities pushing back on data centers reaching for their water and power. New polling shows those communities are not outliers.…
Free Webinar: Meet the ‘River Livers’ Cleaning Pennsylvania’s Streams (Nov 16)
Some of the hardest workers in our rivers never move. Freshwater mussels, known locally as “river livers,” sit on the streambed and quietly filter the…
AI for Water: What It Actually Looks Like
We recently shared the big-picture policy questions around AI and water. Now here is the practical follow-up: what does AI in the water sector actually…
Remembering Franklin Kury: The Man Who Put Pure Water in Pennsylvania’s Constitution
In Pennsylvania, clean air and pure water are not just goals. They are constitutional rights. That is true because of one man, Franklin Kury, who…
It Is a Watershed Problem: Rethinking How We Manage Stormwater
By John Detisch, H2O Water Network For centuries we believed that engineering was our best way out of our problems. Dealing with stormwater has been…
858 Species, One Plan: Comment on Pennsylvania’s Draft Wildlife Action Plan by September 19
Pennsylvania is rewriting the blueprint it uses to keep native species off the endangered list, and the public gets a say until September 19. The…
Fish Habitat Funding for the Ohio River Basin Opens September 8
Mark September 8 on the calendar. That is the day the Ohio River Basin Fish Habitat Partnership releases its FY27 Request for Proposals, opening a…
The Wettest August Since 1871
The National Weather Service has been keeping rainfall records in Pittsburgh since 1871. In 155 years of measuring, no August has been wetter than this…
An Artist Is Turning Acid Mine Drainage Into Watershed Restoration Dollars
Anyone who has stood in an orange stream knows yellow boy, the iron oxide sludge that abandoned mine drainage leaves on every rock it touches.…
ORBA Summit Deadlines Approach: Hotel Block Ends September 23, Early Bird October 1
The basin-wide gathering of the year is six weeks out, and two money-saving deadlines land in the next month. If your group is thinking about…
A Westmoreland Township Writes Its Own Rules for Data Centers
On August 24, the Sewickley Township Board of Supervisors enacted a new ordinance governing data centers, giving the Westmoreland County township local control over how…
Days Left to Comment on Pennsylvania’s Proposed PFAS Rule for Sewage Sludge
Pennsylvania is proposing, for the first time, to require testing of sewage sludge for forever chemicals before it gets spread on farm fields. The public…
