The Importance of Local Volunteer Watershed Groups
Pictured above is a group of WPC volunteers cleaning up a trash dump at Brownfield Hollow in Fayette County, which is in the Lower Monongahela watershed.
We
all live in a watershed, and likely travel between two or more everyday.
Everything we do:
- what we grow on our land,
- what we discharge from our homes and lawns, and
- how
we process water in our industries
affects the quality and quantity of water available for everyone living downstream. And, we all live downstream.
Local
community volunteer "grassroots" groups are increasingly recognizing
not only the value of local watershed protection, but also how important
their involvement in the process can be. Pennsylvania enjoys clean water
in about 60 percent of its waterways today as a result of dedicated volunteers
who fought to overcome the enormous challenges of water pollution. WPC's
Watershed Assistance Center helps dozens of local watershed groups every
year.