How do you use very limited financial resources to help restore the enormous damage to our waterways caused by past development practices?
A question most people don’t think about much — but which lots of us watershed and environmental folks think about all the time…even when we’re at the Cherry Street Tavern!
Matt Ehrart, Stroud Water Research Center expert, spoke recently about this topic as part of the Delaware Watershed Conservation Program Series funded by the William Penn Foundation and organized by The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
Matt described how critical it is to focus on preventing stormwater and pollutants from entering our waterways as far upstream as possible. Work that restores and protects at the level of small tributaries, wetlands and stream is a smart investment because it has an added restorative effect even further down the creek or river.
Serious monitoring and evaluation of the actual results of restoration projects should be a high priority, according to Matt. That’s the approach we’re taking in our watershed through the Delaware Watershed Conservation program funding we’ve received from the William Penn Foundation. With dedicated funding for planning, projects and monitoring of water quality over time in our upstream suburban areas, we hope to see significant improvement in water quality and stream habitat over the coming years.
