To protect the water we drink, we need clean air, expansive forests, responsible farms, wooded stream banks, and communities and individuals who make choices to avoid pollution.

Conserving Water – By Reducing Impervious Surfaces
Land conservation and land use planning/advocacy are the primary ways that PEC works to reduce impervious surfaces ...
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Impoving Water Quality – Through Good Land Management
From rural to suburban to urban, there are best management practices (native plantings, livestock fencing) that make water cleaner ...
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Restoring Connections – By Eliminating Barriers
Culverts, low-water crossings and linear infrastructure (i.e. pipelines, highways) can serve as disruptions to healthy stream flow ...
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Measuring Success – Through Stream Monitoring
Monitoring water quality, biological populations, and physical features of stream habitat are all vital to understanding stream health ...
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The Latest

On the Ground Updates – December 2020
A series of short updates from around the PEC region - Albemarle & Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange & Rappahannock. Albemarle & Charlottesville Charlottesville Safe Streets Photo by Peter Krebs, PEC. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck last spring, PEC led a coalition of organizations and advocates recommending ...
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Scenic Rivers in the Piedmont – A StoryMap
In 2020, the state of Virginia commemorates 50 years of dedication and commitment to the conservation of Virginia's water resources through the Virginia Scenic Rivers Program. In honor of that anniversary, PEC Fellowship program participants, Meredith Hickman and David Malcolm, created a StoryMap that celebrates the ten designated scenic rivers ...
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Capturing the Rain: Green Infrastructure Options for HOA Common Areas
Rain garden planting at Rady Park in Warrenton, VA. Photo by Marco Sanchez. Many residents frequent common areas that are managed by homeowners associations, churches, or local governments. How these entities manage their public landscapes can have a profound effect on the health of our local ecosystems, wildlife, streams and ...
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So Many Bills, So Little Time
Photo by Marco Sanchez, PEC It is March, a time when most people eagerly await the end of winter and embrace the first signs of spring. For me, the spring also marks the end of long days and nights spent walking the halls and occupying committee rooms in Richmond. The ...
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Fronting the Costs: Fencing at Mountain Hollow Farm
Carina and Dean Elgin at their fence. Photo by Hugh Kenny, PEC. Eight generations of cattle farming had taken its toll on the streams at Dean and Carina Elgin’s Mountain Hollow Farm in northern Fauquier County. Historically, “all the cattle had access to the creek. That was our watering system ...
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