Thanks to a grant from the Connecticut Community Foundation, the Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition (PRWC) and the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA) are collaborating to bring key information about watersheds and aquifers to local leaders to help them make environmentally sound decisions about projects affecting both the Pomperaug River and the Housatonic River watersheds.
The grant funds a newly created outreach coordinator position at PRWC to work with both organizations in developing, communicating and sharing technical information about water quality and its protection.
The PRWC has named Donna Lesch, a Southbury resident and professional hydrologist, to this position. Lesch formerly chaired the PRWC Stream and Outreach Committee as a volunteer. In her new role as outreach coordinator, she will be responsible for sharing scientific data collected by the Coalition with local decision-makers including town land use planners and members of land use boards and commissions. By giving local leaders information about rivers and streams in a form they can understand, PRWC and HVA hope to help them make environmentally sound decisions on land use activities that could have an impact on local rivers and drinking water.
“The work of PRWC has yielded extensive scientific data about water capacity and movement within the Pomperaug River watershed,” said Lynn Werner, HVA’s executive director. “Our challenge is to turn this data into understandable information that will be useful to town leaders.”
Ed Edelson, PRWC executive director, agreed, adding, “With this grant we add new resources to focus on protecting our drinking water supplies. Local land use decision-makers are key and we will reach out to them in each of our Pomperaug communities over the next year.”
The new position is supported by a two-year, $63,700 grant from the Connecticut Community Foundation, which has previously supported projects of both PRWC and HVA. PRWC, the lead agency for the project, received the first payment for the new position at a meeting of the two organizations and the Connecticut Community Foundation on June 25. “We’re delighted to help the Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition and the Housatonic Valley Association expand their good work to protect one of the most valuable resources in any region, the public water supply,” said Ingrid Manning, the Foundation’s CEO. “It is especially exciting to see two organizations working together on a project that will give community leaders additional tools to help them as they make decisions.”
Over the next year, Lesch plans to make presentations to all of the boards and commissions in the Pomperaug River Watershed area, which covers parts of Bethlehem, Middlebury, Morris, Roxbury, Southbury, Washington, Watertown and Woodbury. The program will be expanded to include additional towns in the Housatonic River Watershed in the following year. The organizations will measure the success of their efforts by tracking all of the land use decisions in those towns as well as how many boards and commissions have changed or amended their decision-making process as a result of the presentations.
The Housatonic Valley Association, founded in 1941, works to conserve the natural character and environmental health of its communities by protecting and restoring the lands and waters of the Housatonic Watershed for current and future generations. HVA protects land and water throughout the entire 2,000-square-mile, tri-state Housatonic River valley. To learn more about HVA visit www.hvatoday.org.
The Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition was formed by residents of Bethlehem, Woodbury, and Southbury in 1999 to protect the quality and quantity of water in the Pomperaug Watershed, a 90-square-mile area that provides both water and recreational opportunities for thousands of residents. The Coalition works to create a partnership between local governments, businesses, environmental organizations and private citizens and regional, state and federal agencies to insure the health and vibrancy of the Pomperaug Watershed. Additiona information can be found on the web at www.pomperaug.org
Founded in Waterbury in 1923, the Connecticut Community Foundation serves 21 towns in the Central Naugatuck Valley and Litchfield Hills, an area reaching from New Milford to Cheshire and from Goshen to Oxford. The Foundation administers over 400 charitable funds established by local donors, reflecting a variety of philanthropic interests and a supporting a range of opportunities in the region. With this support, the Foundation provides grants and services to nonprofit organizations, scholarships to students, and local expertise to bring people together to create community solutions. For more information, contact the Foundation at 203-753-1315 or visit www.conncf.org.
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