Water Resources

Report on the condition of the 86,000 miles of streams and rivers and 161,455 lake acres in Pennsylvania, as well as descriptions of pollution control and monitoring programs.

Summary of the Department of Environmental Protection's program to plug abandoned oil and gas wells. It is estimated that as many as 760,000 wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania, and over 500,000 remain unaccounted for.

Presentation outlining the extent and impact of abandoned mine lands in Pennsylvania, as well as efforts to restore them.

The purpose of this guide is to provide options for communities seeking to implement floodplain regulations which reduce flood damage and overall impacts of floods. This guide is not a substitute for for a set of community floodplain regulations; rather, it is a guide to enhancing existing regulations.

Pennsylvania’s waterways face numerous threats, including excess nutrient loading, sedimentation, decreased flow, chemical pollutants, invasive species, access, and recreational conflict. In the last decade, there was a rapid expansion of community watershed organizations (CWOs) aimed at solving local watershed issues across the commonwealth and the nation. The development of local, volunteer-led watershed organizations seems to represent a paradigm shift to a community-based approach for generating long-term solutions to local watershed problems.

Personnel from Penn State's Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology prepared the report under a grant from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.

Presentation regarding PA's regulations regarding water protection in Marcellus Shale drilling.

Presentation regarding dam removal benefits and techniques

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) uses a Community Rating System (CRS) that can unlock significant flood insurance savings for communities. Nature-based solutions—such as open space protection and wetland restoration—can effectively reduce flood risk and are creditable components of the CRS. The conservation community can and should partner with municipalities to plan and design “nature-based solutions” that restore and protect natural areas, reduce flood risk and earn citizens a discount on their flood insurance rates.

This presentation focuses on dam removal techniques and benefits

This Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) study evaluates the effectiveness of dam removal along waterways. Findings show that dam removal is less expensive than repairing and maintaining dams, reduces flood risk to surrounding properties, and creates better stream habitat.

This is a stream restoration case study that discusses re-grading the steep eroding stream banks, planting a native riparian buffer and establishing fish habitat improvement structures.

Guide to building and improving dirt and gravel roads in a way that minimizes erosion, runoff, and other environmental impacts.

A quantitative assessment of water users can help communicate the importance of water resource protection and improvement as well as provide data for prioritizing projects. As part of the Springfield–Greene County effort, EPA investigated data on water resource users within and downstream of the city and county. After compiling existing data, the EPA project team identified data gaps and developed recommended methods for collecting additional data to address these gaps. This data collection plan provides next steps for the project partners as well as ideas for other communities on how to collect water resource user data to help support an integrated planning process.

Outlines the cost and completion status of PFBC projects funded by Growing Greener as of 2017.

Guide to floodplain management and model regulations to protect floodplains.

This publication is a guide to aid large property owners with innovative green projects to reduce stormwater pollution. It contains stormwater management practices and site examples.

This is a case study of a streambank restoration project in Montgomery County utilizing bioengineering (bio-structural) design rather than "hard engineering" methods to prevent erosion.

Forests, riparian buffers, wetlands and other natural lands are essential for the protection of water quality and aquatic habitat.

Presentation focuses on water resource planning.

Presentation by Dr. Dorothy Merritts (F&M College) on research, done jointly with Dr. Robert Walter, which defines legacy sediment, describes the characteristics of legacy sediment and its distribution with respect to historic mill dams; and provides examples of recent stream restoration sites with legacy sediment impairments.

Study finds that 81% of farms in Virginia's two largest agricultural counties fail to fence cows out of streams, contributing to pollution.

Survey of experienced conservation staff in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that highlights key strategies for working with rural landowners to implement conservation practices to improve water quality such as riparian buffers and streambank fencing. The survey was conducted with the long-term goal of developing a training course to help entry-level and mid-career conservation staff better work with landowners.

This publication is an informational guide to native species appropriate for planting in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and adjacent coastal regions. It includes color photographs of the species, making it a user-friendly resource for landscape design.

There are 15 state fish hatcheries in Pennsylvania. Owned by the state and operated by the Fish and Boat Commission, these hatcheries are strategically located across the Commonwealth to take advantage of high-quality water supplies and to maximize fish stocking logistics. Pennsylvania's state fish hatcheries are engines for economic development. Eight hatcheries combine to produce some 4 million adult trout annually. Stocked into the waters of the Commonwealth, these trout support fishing activity that generates some $500 million in economic activity each year.

Map of all rivers and streams in Pennsylvania.

The booklet informs citizens on issues related to water conservation, ensuring that private water supply systems produce safe drinking water for your family, protecting the long-term quality of our streams and drinking water sources, and helping you to understand the potential sources of pollution to our water resources. The booklet provides general information explaining certified water testing, chain-of-custody, and drinking water regulations and standards. It provides information related to the health (primary standards) or aesthetic (secondary standards) concerns for each parameter and provides information on water quality parameters that do not specifically have a drinking water limit. This reference is intended as a guide to understand water quality by providing guidance on selecting water quality testing parameters for baseline testing from a citizen's perspective and by serving as a tool to help interpret water quality data. In some cases, this document provides guidance on what actions you may want to consider. The booklet can be accessed at http://www.slideshare.net/interpro63/pennsylvania-private-well-owners-manual or http://www.private-well-owner.org.

Healthy, functioning watersheds slow surface runoff, increase water infiltration into the soil, naturally filter pollutants, decrease soil erosion, and moderate water quantity by decreasing flooding and recharging groundwater reserves. For every 10% increase in forest cover in a drinking water’s source area, treatment and chemical costs decrease by approximately 20%. This report presents a series of best practices on source protection and gives case studies of communities that have effectively linked land protection, water protection, and water treatment cost savings.

The study is to determine potential revenues from House Bill 20, PN 1846 of 2017; the necessary fee rates to generate annual revenues of $500 million, $300 million, and $100 million; and potential revenue from each of the major watersheds in Pennsylvania.

List of Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission projects funded through Growing Greener II.

Presentation on nutrient trading programs.

At current user rates, the updated (2015) total drinking water and wastewater gap over the next 10 years in Pennsylvania is $18.6 billion, $10.2 billion for drinking water and $8.4 billion for wastewater. That total is reduced to $4.2 billion if rates are increased to 1.5 percent of median household income. .

Presentation includes information on watershed planning, scientific research on hellbenders, fish, macroinvertebrates, and freshwater mussels, as well as information concerning conservation easements.