The William Penn Foundation Tuesday announced an unprecedented $35 million multi-year Delaware River Water Initiative to protect and restore critical sources of drinking water for 15 million people.

The grants fund a collaboration of leading conservation organizations who will align their work to protect land, restore streams, test innovative approaches in ecologically significant places, and monitor results over time.

The organizations include the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Open Space Institute and more than 40 additional national and regional partners.

The projects will permanently protect more than 30,000 acres, implement more than 40 restoration projects, pilot new incentives for landowners and businesses, provide replicable models for other locations in the watershed, and develop long-term water quality data for the watershed at an unprecedented scale. 

The Delaware River watershed covers more than 13,500-square miles spanning New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. In addition to being a major source of drinking water, the watershed supports an array of water-related economic enterprises valued at $25 billion per year, as well as hemispherically significant habitat.

Deforestation from commercial, residential, and energy development, chemical runoff from farms, and storm water runoff in cities severely threaten the health of the watershed.

This commitment of private funding to the Delaware River will complement the delivery of Federal and state conservation programs to make the most of taxpayer dollars and to accelerate the pace of restoration and protection.

“Healthy landscapes with working farms and forests in the Delaware River watershed produce abundant food and fiber and support vibrant rural economies. They also provide clean water, clean air, and valuable wildlife habitat that benefit their own communities and urban neighbors,” said Jason Weller, Chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “This partnership highlights how a cooperative approach for applying conservation activities on private and public land is essential for everyone in the watershed—whether they live in urban or rural areas.”

"EPA values collaborative initiatives like this that help organizations build greater capacity and leverage critical resources needed to tackle the next generation of water protection issues," said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. "This new initiative will support efforts led by other active partners, such as the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, in advancing science, research and restoration work to protect the entire bay and river watershed. Building healthy and resilient watersheds is essential to protecting our nation's water resources, and ensuring a sustainable future for the communities that depend on them."

"The Delaware River Watershed is a critical resource for communities in New Jersey, New York, and the entire region," said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. "Every day, millions of people depend upon the watershed as a source of drinking water, for agricultural uses, and for recreation. Preventing pollution from entering the Delaware River and its watershed is the single most effective strategy to ensure that the watershed is protected."

The Foundation partnered with a team of scientists from the Academy of Natural Sciences, to systematically determine where and how to allocate funds for optimal conservation impact while also laying the groundwork for future investment.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for our nationally renowned water quality scientists to work hand-in-hand with leading conservationists who know these geographies inside and out,” said George W. Gephart, Jr., President and CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences, whose staff of scientists will oversee the watershed monitoring.

Laura Sparks, Chief Philanthropy Officer of the William Penn Foundation, explained that the monitoring data provided by the Academy of Natural Sciences, will enable WPF and other foundations to make more informed, evidence-based decisions going forward.

“We are eager to use the data collected to inform real-time adjustments, analyze the potential of these projects across the watershed, and magnify those results to catalyze widespread action grounded in high-quality science," said Sparks.

Open Space Institute, nationally known for its strategic protection of large landscapes, identified key environmental and advocacy nonprofit organizations that work in the watershed in order to match expertise and capacity with project needs.

“We hope that this effort will galvanize interest and bring forward partners who want to join us. We invite landowners and businesses to work with us to find new ways to protect the watershed that rely on incentives and creative solutions to complement the work of government,” said Kim Elliman, President and CEO of the Open Space Institute, adding that the scale of the initiative requires developing more partnerships and attracting more scientists, advocates, and funders. 

“So much is at stake; without significant additional investment, greater scientific understanding, and increased coordination across the watershed, one of our most important national resources, relied upon by millions of people across four states including half of New York City and all of Philadelphia, will continue to degenerate,” explained Elliman.

The initiative identifies eight regional “clusters” of sub-watersheds, constituting approximately 25 percent of the total Delaware River Basin across four states, where analysis has shown that investment in targeted efforts to protect or improve water quality could deliver significant returns.

The sub-watersheds include: Poconos and Kittatinny, New Jersey Highlands, Upper Lehigh, Middle Schuylkill, Schuylkill Highlands, Brandywine and Christina Rivers, Upstream Suburban Philadelphia and Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer.  Click Here for a profile of each sub-watershed.

Restoration and preservation efforts in these sub-watersheds not only contribute directly to the water quality in the Delaware Basin, but will also serve as incubators for cultivating a wide range of effective approaches for expanding investment across the watershed, and ultimately in other river basins across the country.

"The dynamic partnership enabling this historic initiative has created a whole much greater than the sum of its parts," said Jeff Trandahl, Executive Director and CEO of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. "Through on-the-ground restoration projects, we will work with this talented group of partners, as well as federal partners including the U.S. EPA, USDA and the Department of Interior, to scale up the impact of this work."

“We look forward to making this work and data available to the public and hope to identify new evidence-based methods for avoiding or mitigating key stressors threatening water quality in major metropolitan areas, specifically urban stormwater runoff, agricultural pollution, loss of forests in essential headwater areas, and aquifer depletion,” said Andrew Johnson, Senior Program Officer for Watershed Protection at the William Penn Foundation.

Click Here to watch a presentation on the WPF Delaware Watershed Initiative from the Schuylkill River Congress in March.

NewsClips:

$35M Initiative Aims To Improve Water Quality In Delaware River Basin

William Penn Foundation To Fund $35 Million In Watershed Grants

Temple Awarded WPF Grant For Delaware Watershed Restoration

Stream Set For Stocking After Decades Of Pollution In Cambria

Rock Lititz Project To Improve Water Quality, Farmland Preservation

Benefits Of Green Infrastructure Outweigh Costs In Lancaster

Northumberland Conservation District Receives Growing Greener Grant

Use Of Reclaimed Land Still A Secret In Dallas

Wolves Helping To Bring Life Back To Speedwell Forge Lake

Editorial: Pittsburgh Could Use Waterways For Electricity

Related Stories:

Stroud Water Research Center Receives WPF Grant For Delaware Watershed Work

Academy Of Natural Sciences Receives WPF Grant To Protect Drinking Water In Delaware

Natural Lands Trust Receives WPF Grant To Promote Land Stewardship In Delaware Basin

Temple Awarded WPF Grant For Watershed Restoration In Delaware

4/7/2014