This is a guest blog post by Aaron Dickinson, a Masters of Public Policy student at Duke University who joined River Network this past summer as an intern. How can trash collection and clean up lead to change in a community’s policies or practices? Because River Network supports community engagement through litter collection, trash clean… Read More ›
The Clean Water Act is turning 49 and we have much to celebrate and much to look forward to in the year ahead. Let’s kick off the celebration by focusing on the wins of this past year and getting excited about the upcoming 50th Anniversary. All eyes are on the Biden Administration and the Environmental… Read More ›
Water is a critical resource. We depend on it for our communities’ health, economies, and environmental and social resilience. But managing our available water resources to meet those diverse needs is a complex exercise. Over the past two decades, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has emerged as an approach to navigating these complexities, providing a… Read More ›
River Network Clean Water Fellow, Erin Kanzig contributed to this blog. As part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) back in March to help revive the economy and protect public health by providing direct support to individuals as well as state, tribal, and local governments. The… Read More ›
Like many of you, when the Biden Administration and the new Congress began their work at the start of this year, I began hopefully anticipating what they would do help ensure more people have access to safe, clean, affordable water and our communities have healthy, resilient waterways. Since then, as droughts, floods, wildfires, storms, and… Read More ›
To address today’s water crisis, the national network of water protectors needs strong leaders. That’s why Building Strong Champions is the essence of River Network’s mission. At its core, Building Strong Champions is building the capacity of individuals and organizations. This blog post is the third in our series highlighting this work: professional development, a… Read More ›
After the Dirty Water Rule went into effect in 2020 more than half of the nation’s wetlands and streams lost Clean Water Act protections. Every day the Dirty Water Rule stays in effect streams and wetlands across the country are at risk of destruction and pollution. We need the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to… Read More ›
For years, River Network has hosted online webinars, trainings, and peer calls to engage members of the water community around relevant and topical issues. But as many organizations, including River Network, have ramped up online events and digital outreach in the last few years, and particularly over the past 18 months in response to COVID-19,… Read More ›
Last November, River Network published part one of a two-part toolkit series on Equitable Climate Resilience. This first tool, titled Fostering Community Leadership, introduced community leadership development programs as a way to center equity in conversations, decisions, and community impacts related to climate change. We put the tool to work at the beginning of 2021 by granting three organizations funds, planning resources, and direct… Read More ›
River Network kicked off 2021 by granting 8 local organizations with funds and technical assistance to design and implement community-led research projects in their communities: the last eight months have been ripe with direct consulting, peer calls for our cohort of grantees, resource sharing, and research to support diverse projects. Community-led research, or CLR, is a strategy that… Read More ›
This blog post was originally published by the Delaware River Watershed Initiative. Steps toward change happen with collective action. In late June, staff from Bartram’s Garden shared their story of how they used their data and collective voice to highlight water quality issues and demand the attention of the governing agencies of the tidal Schuylkill River in… Read More ›
How do you support river health and engage irrigators along 300 plus miles of river and with nearly 250 individually owned diversion structures? It’s tough, but rewarding, and exactly what River Network and our partners have been up to in the Yampa river basin recently. The Yampa River in northwest Colorado is often cited as… Read More ›
Farms, ranches, and rangelands occupy 44% of US land, making the farmers and ranchers who work these lands and use this water to irrigate them vital voices in any water-related conversations – both because of their water usage and their vast working knowledge of local lands and waterways. In recent years we’ve heard from our… Read More ›
“Inequality impacts rivers, too, because that’s where it ends up ultimately.” –Catherine Coleman Flowers, River Rally 2021 How are decisions to use green infrastructure versus a detention pond to control stormwater runoff made? What are the options for making water rates more affordable? How can states prioritize those most in need through their water infrastructure… Read More ›
