Senator Wonderling

For those of us who love the great outdoors, every day is Earth Day. Every day gives us an opportunity to be responsible stewards of all of the natural blessings that have been provided to us.

I recently came back from a Steelhead fishing expedition with my son Sam in Elk Creek, Erie County. Although we didn’t catch anything for supper except a cold, we had an excellent time marveling at the beauty that is Pennsylvania.

As a lawmaker, a conservationist, and a father I am committed to leave a legacy of a cleaner environment for our children.

Clean, pure water is something most Americans take for granted.

Over the past 30 years, our Nation has succeeded in fighting back some of the most egregious threats to our waterways. Today’s threats are more subtle. They involve things like the damage to a watershed that occurs when homeowners use too much fertilizer on their lawns, or when oil residues in a parking lot are washed into storm drains during a rainfall. These threats, known as non-point source pollution, are harder to address, but that doesn’t mean they are any less harmful to the environment.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that non-point source pollution is the leading remaining cause of water quality degradation. Examples of non-point source pollution include, excess fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas; oil, grease, and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production; sediment from improperly managed construction sites, and eroding streambanks; salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines; and bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems.

The effects of non-point source pollutants on specific waters vary and may not always be fully assessed. However, we know that these pollutants have harmful effects on drinking water supplies, recreation, fisheries, and wildlife.

I once heard someone describe a watershed as communities connected by water. I really liked that because what happens in a community miles away can affect the quality of water in our neighborhood and others around it.

That’s why it is so important for each of us to learn about how our own daily activities might be threatening the watersheds in which we live.

In the Senatorial district that I represent, the largest watershed is the Perkiomen Watershed. It encompasses 362 square miles and 57 municipalities in Berks, Bucks, Lehigh, and Montgomery counties.

Like most watersheds of this size, a strategic regional approach is necessary to enhance and maintain the quality of the watershed as a whole.Since 1964, the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy (PWC) has been working to improve the health and quality of the Perkiomen Creek Watershed through a commitment to conservation projects, stewardship programs, and environmental education.

This is a critical effort since water from the Perkiomen Creek watershed reaches more than a million homes and businesses throughout the region, either through water authorities that draw directly from the creek or through numerous private and public wells that tap the local underground water supplies.

However, fulfilling the PWC mission of protecting and preserving the land and water resources of the Watershed is an ever increasing challenge due to a growing population and continuing economic development. The PWC has been focusing its resources and programs to address the diverse communities of the Upper and Lower Perkiomen, the East Branch, the Swamp, Unami, and Skippack Creek sub-watersheds.

The goal is to involve municipalities, businesses and schools in affecting positive environmental change in the communities where they live, work and play as well as increase the public's understanding of the philosophy that "The Land and the Water are One".

In the Lehigh Valley, the Little Lehigh Creek Watershed supplies drinking water to approximately 137,000 people in Emmaus, Allentown, and surrounding communities. From its origin in Berks County, it flows 24 miles through Lower Macungie and Salisbury Townships before being joined by the Jordan Creek and eventually flowing into the Lehigh River. Local environmental and conservation groups are partnering together in the Lehigh Valley to further clean up the watershed.

Pennsylvania’s Growing Greener program is also helping to improve our watersheds. Growing Greener funds programs in four state agencies: the departments of Agriculture (farmland preservation) and Conservation and Natural Resources (state park and local recreation projects), and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (wastewater and drinking water improvements).

The Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) portion of Growing Greener supports the largest watershed restoration program in the country awarding more than $163 million in watershed grants since 1999 and leveraging an additional $397 million in funding from local project sponsors. The program controls pollution from agricultural and urban stormwater runoff, abandoned mine lands and oil and gas wells that are the cause of 96 percent of the water quality impairment in the Commonwealth.

Since its inception in 1999, Growing Greener has produced significant educational and environmental benefits for Pennsylvania’s watersheds. So far, more than $163 million has been awarded in watershed grants. Local sponsors have added another $397 million to that effort in support of these projects.

As projects are completed over the next few years, Growing Greener will:

· Create or restore 5,931 acres of wetlands;

· Complete 737 miles of stream buffer restoration;

· Build 205 miles of stream improvement structures;

· Reclaim 5,239 acres of abandoned mine lands;

· Organize 139 watershed organizations;

· Restore 500 miles of streams from acid mine drainage; and

· Plug 1,670 oil and gas wells.

In the Senate, I have signed on to Senate Bill 291, which amends the Municipalities Planning Code to provide for watershed protection areas. This bill, introduced by Senator Joe Conti (R-Bucks), would add watersheds as appropriate entities for joint municipal zoning. Municipalities that joint zone by watershed will receive preference in grant applications to be administered by the Department of Community and Economic Development.

The health and quality of our watersheds touches each of us. Focusing on watersheds will help transform the way Pennsylvanian’s think about how they can make a difference for cleaner water. As people learn about the ways even small, individual actions can add up to big environmental consequences, they will become an active partner in our effort to leave Pennsylvania’s waters purer then when we arrived.

To learn more about what you can do to improve your watershed contact your municipality, your local environmental organization or visit the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection website at www.depweb.state.pa.us/dep .

Senator Wonderling represents parts of Bucks, Lehigh, Montgomery and Northampton counties and has served in the Senate since 2002.

Courtesy: Watershed Weekly

7/7/2006