Members of the Upstream Suburban Philadelphia Watershed Collaborative (USP) toasted their success over the last 12 years during a recent celebration at the Abington Club in Jenkintown. PEC Executive Vice President Patrick Starr and Pat Patterson, Southeast Regional Director for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, hosted the program, which presented awards to Watershed Champions
USP was a unique partnership among eight watershed organizations and two universities, coordinated by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and funded by the William Penn Foundation, beginning in 2013. The partners brought their experiences in stewardship, their volunteers, and their community contacts to a focused effort to reduce stormwater pollution in targeted streams.
The work was supported by Temple University, Villanova University, and PEC. As the initiative concludes, 46 nature-based stormwater management projects were installed and more than $10 million was invested including more than $4 million from the PA Department of Environmental Protection Growing Greener Fund, $3.5 million from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, and nearly $1 million from the Commonwealth Finance Authority. Additional funding was provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Montgomery County, and several municipalities. Five hundred homeowners assessed their stormwater impacts, which resulted in the implementation of more than 100 new stormwater management projects.
More than 100 volunteers learned about watershed health and monitored water quality, and some became outspoken public champions for water pollution prevention.
You can learn more about USP and see images from projects at pecpa.org/usp.
Thank you to our dedicated planning committee for supporting the coordination of the celebration event: Erin Landis, Susan Harris, Ryan Neuman, Kevin Roth, Jen Torman, Hannah Pittenturf, Patrick Starr, and Paul Racette.
View photos from the USP celebration in the slideshow below.
