2004 WAM Blog
Friday, April 30, 2004
MAY IS WATERSHED AWARENESS MONTH
‘Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities’ Marks Theme for Third Annual Celebration
HARRISBURG: For the third consecutive year, May is being celebrated as Watershed Awareness Month to encourage Pennsylvanians to learn more about their local watersheds and participate in environmental activities to enhance their natural surroundings and communities. The theme this year, “Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities,” highlights the important connection between environment and quality of life in Pennsylvania.
“Throughout the month of May, volunteer community organizations, educators and other groups are encouraged to promote the importance of watersheds at the grassroots and community levels by organizing and conducting watershed awareness activities,” Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said.
To celebrate Watershed Awareness Month, participants can take part in watershed walks, water quality monitoring, streamside cleanups and other activities already taking place in their watersheds, or they can organize an event of their own.
To find out what activities are planned in a community or to network with others interested in planning an event, an online journal, hosted by the Pennsylvania Organization for Watershed and Rivers, offers easy access to an event calendar, watershed news and stories, and more relating to Watershed Awareness Month. Visit the online journal at www.pawatersheds.org throughout May for the latest updates.
Watershed groups across the state as well as the Pennsylvania legislature have shown tremendous interest in making Watershed Awareness Month a success. Senator Mary Jo White and Representative William Adolph have shown support for Watershed Awareness Month by introducing resolutions to recognize the importance of watersheds. Both legislators serve as majority chairs of the Environmental Resources and Energy committees in the Senate and House, respectively.
A committee of six organizations representing watershed partners—including DEP, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation, the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and the Resource Conservation and Development Council—have been working in partnership to make Watershed Awareness Month a unique opportunity for every Pennsylvanian to expand their awareness and appreciation for water resources through educational activities, watershed hikes and tours.
Under Governor Rendell’s proposed 2004-05 budget, funds from a bond issue would be used to stabilize and expand two key programs: Growing Greener, an initiative begun under Governor Tom Ridge that improves the environment; and the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund, signed into law by Governor Robert P. Casey to clean up the worst hazardous sites.
The $800 million bond would be distributed among three areas over four years:
· $330 million for parks, open space and farmland.
· $300 million for environmental cleanup.
· $170 million to revitalize older communities.
Highlighting the strategic importance that clean and healthy water resources have in protecting public health and ensuring Pennsylvania remains economically competitive, the plan more specifically proposes to use $80 million over four years to enhance the health of waterways by limiting nutrient loading and preventing nonpoint source pollution, and redirects an additional $21 million a year to the Environmental Stewardship Fund to invest in groups that successfully have revitalized communities, improved watersheds and protected the environment.
