The H2O Water Network connects diverse stakeholders with a shared vision of quality improvement of our integrated water resources. To do that job better, we want to describe the capacity and identify the needs of under-resourced stewards and community-based groups working to protect local water bodies with a watershed framework.
Watershed groups and stewards take on many forms. Some are entirely volunteer-run, while others are inter-municipal, and some have reliable funding streams for operations. We will be reaching out to a broad array of stakeholders working with a local community around water issues. This study will include interviews/surveys in 14 counties in Western Pennsylvania.
As the project matures and with the data collected, we expect to work with community-based water groups that work as far north as the Seneca Nation and the Chautauqua Lake Region and as far south as the mountain meadow springs of West Virginia.
If you steward a stream as a member of a watershed group, sports’ club, conservation agency, or on your own, please consider completing this survey.
The Counties included in the first Phase:
- Allegheny
- Armstrong
- Beaver
- Butler
- Cambria
- Clarion
- Fayette
- Greene
- Indiana
- Lawrence
- Mercer
- Somerset
- Washington
- Westmoreland
Throughout this expansive region, many groups and stewards are actively monitoring water quality, partnering on cutting-edge research, advising local governments on financing and maintaining water systems, and helping to write and implement watershed management plans. They fill glaring gaps and serve critical roles. The work of watershed stewards needs to be supported.
The information gathered will be used to:
- Develop assistance to help organizations accomplish meaningful water stewardship.
- Assist the Southwestern Pennsylvania Water Network to identify streams that are monitored in the Upper Ohio River Basin.
- Identify issues that may lead to future projects - pollution sources, bank erosion, or unhealthy/dead streams.