River Voices: April 2026
Welcome to the April 2026 edition of River Voices. This month we’re highlighting the 2026 River Rally Award recipients and their work for the water movement. Also, read new fact sheet that summarize information in our Drinking Water Guide, including fact sheets in Spanish.
As the network continues to address compounding challenges surrounding water access, public health, and community resilience, River Network is thrilled to recognize seven exemplary advocates whose dedication and persistence are paving the way toward an equitable water future.
Looking for easy-to-read materials to share with your community after reading the Drinking Water Guide? We have shareable fact sheets based on the guide, including many that are in Spanish! They cover consumer confidence reports, community water systems, the Safe Drinking Water Act, water affordability, climate change impacts, climate change resilience, and avenues for taking action.
Welcome to River Network’s River Corps member, Eliza King! Eliza will serve as our Outreach and Communications Associate, supporting both River Network and River Watch of Colorado through September 2026. On her earliest memory of water:
“I grew up on the coast of California and with family on the East Coast, so a lot of my childhood was spent outdoors and around water. My sister and I would spend summers with my aunt in Vermont, and I loved going to the lake surrounded by blueberry bushes.”
A Rooting Resilience grant is bringing hundreds of new trees to the town of Comer, GA. Learn how public land is being planted with saplings and building community in a video profile produced by The Perch, one of River Network’s grant recipients for urban forestry work.
Join a Training Series in Our Online Learning Platform
Our Online Learning Platform offers entirely self-paced trainings to help grow and strengthen network members. Current topics include equitable development, building trust with water utilities, the Clean Water Act, State Revolving Funds, and more.
Private Wells & PFAS: What You Need to Know
April 15, 3pm ET
Does your drinking water come from a private well? Discover the basics of private well contamination concerns, actions private well owners can take, and how organizations can use maps, monitoring, and filtration systems to keep community members informed and safe in this learning session.
Advancing Nature-Based Solutions
Recording Available Now
If you missed this learning series on nature-based solutions, you can watch recordings of each session and access related learning materials below.
Watch now: Integrating Ecological Economics into Watershed Restoration Projects Part 1
Watch now: Advancing Nature-Based Solutions Part 2: Communicating the Real Value of Nature-Based Solutions
Avoiding Water Shutoffs
Recording Available Now
The first learning session in this two-part series gave a brief overview of the best practices and tools included in Keep the Water Flowing, a guide with best practices to avoid water shutoffs, and lessons from Chicago’s use of these practices.
What We’re Reading
- 📣 Zooming Out: WebinarTV’s Rampant Scraping of Online Meetings. PSA! Check your Zoom security and AI settings. A company called WebinarTV is posting private and public Zoom meetings on its website without informed consent. Learn more about how to prevent this. (CyberAlberta)
- 💧 Water Infrastructure in Texas Is Failing. A Surge of New Funding Can Fix It (The Nation)
- ⚖️ Revolving No More: How Earmarks Are Draining America’s Water Funds (Environmental Policy Innovation Center)
- 🏠 Yes In God’s Back Yard: How Faith-Based Organizations Are Reshaping the Affordable Housing Market (Local Initiatives Support Corporation)
