Safe Water
Water flows through all of our land. To keep it plentiful and safe for drinking, swimming and fishing, we need clean air, expansive forests, responsible farms, wooded stream banks, and communities and individuals who make choices to avoid pollution.
Learn more about this non-profit organization in Clarke Co. that promotes natural resource conservation by stimulating awareness, action and alliances through visual arts & technology. See their new documentary--Shenandoah: Voices of the River.
As part of a multiyear project to protect and restore water quality in the Goose Creek watershed in Fauquier and Loudoun Counties, PEC recently sponsored a workshop in Leesburg on how to design building sites in ways that are good for water quality.
Farmers who establish riparian buffers and install livestock-exclusion fencing along the Upper Hazel River Watershed may be eligible for to receive full reimbursement. Read more about the program and find out if you qualify.
New incentives make it free for farmers to fence livestock away from streams--helping to restore water quality in the Hazel, Hughes, Rush, and Thornton Rivers.
Limestone rock is common in the eastern United States. Human activities and new development can accelerate the natural pace of limestone erosion--causing sinkholes, threatening buildings and roads, and contaminating groundwater.
The Town of Purcellville has donated an easement on 1,271 acres--which includes three springs and a significant portion of a watershed above Purcellville's reservoir. This property is the largest in Loudoun to be protected by a conservation easement.
Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality recently issued a statewide water quality report. Impaired area in rivers and streams increased from 9,002 miles in 2006 to 10,604 miles in 2008.
Load reduction goals for developed lands will not be met, as new development is increasing loads faster than restoration efforts can reduce them.
Watch the new documentary "Poisoned Waters" by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith. The documentary details the perilous condition of waterways like the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound, and addresses new sources of contamination
Learn how riparian buffers--strips of grass, shrubs and trees along stream and river banks-- protect water resources in this article by Joe Coleman of The Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy.
Wetlands play an essential role in maintaining clean, healthy waterways, reducing the risk of floods and droughts, and providing rich habitat for animals and plants.
Streams and rivers are likely to be healthy when at least 91% of the ground in their watershed remains permeable, allowing soil and plants to filter precipitation.
PEC does extensive work assessing, monitoring, and protecting the Piedmont's watersheds.
Learn about the uranium mining process, the harmful consequences associated with mining, and what you can do to prevent the moratorium from being lifted.
