Blog

Authentic Community-Water Utility Partnerships Yield Big Results

by Katherine Baer
Photo courtesy SERI.

In Tucson, Arizona, water is scarce and temperatures can be scorching. As part of the Colorado River Basin, demand for water is outstripping availability, due in part to climate change. Tucson is also getting hotter, especially in “urban heat islands,” which disproportionately affect poorer neighborhoods with fewer trees and more concrete. While many of the… Read More ›

What’s Inside the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for Water?

by Erin Kanzig

Understanding what’s inside a 1,000+ page bill can feel daunting- so we’ve done our best to pull out the details below in a longer-than-usual blog post (!) as well as some thoughts on what’s ahead for implementing River Network’s priorities- clean, safe, affordable drinking water, resilient cities and communities, healthy rivers in agricultural landscapes, and robust… Read More ›

How 90 High Schoolers Removed Over 1 Ton of Community Litter

by Jared Hocking
Students participating in a Ball Corporation-funded Earth Week clean-up.

Earlier this year, in collaboration with River Network and with support from Ball Corporation, Findlay, Ohio’s Blanchard River Watershed Partnership (BRWP) and the local United Way organized an Earth Week clean-up event opportunity for 90 National Honors Society (NHS) students to collaborate with their community, gain valuable leadership skills and foster a commitment to maintaining a healthy,… Read More ›

Wild and Scenic Rivers Stewardship Partnership Funding Awards 2021

by Katherine Baer
Photo credit Mónica Pérez, Love in Motion Foundation

For the third consecutive year, River Network is working with the USDA Forest Service (Forest Service) to provide local organizations with funding for their work to steward our many, diverse Wild and Scenic Rivers. These designated segments of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System  flow throughout the country and help protect some of the… Read More ›

Trash to Action: How Litter Clean Up can Lead to Change

by Katherine Baer

This is a guest blog post by Aaron Dickinson, a Masters of Public Policy student at Duke University who joined River Network this past summer as an intern. How can trash collection and clean up lead to change in a community’s policies or practices? Because River Network supports community engagement through litter collection, trash clean… Read More ›

Introducing River Network’s State Policy Hub

by Erin Kanzig
Which states have passed laws regulating the pervasive PFAS that contaminate our drinking water? What does a human right to water resolution include? How are states advancing the removal of lead service lines and reducing the risks of lead exposure from the water coming out of our taps? With support from the Water Foundation, River... Read More ›

Integrating Equity Into Integrated Water Management Planning

by Diana Toledo
Still water of the San Antonio River with banks of yellow and green trees and paths on either side.
The San Antonio River near the Blue Star Complex. Photo by Vanessa Velazquez.

Water is a critical resource. We depend on it for our communities’ health, economies, and environmental and social resilience. But managing our available water resources to meet those diverse needs is a complex exercise. Over the past two decades, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has emerged as an approach to navigating these complexities, providing a… Read More ›

Building Strong Champions with Professional Development

by Brenna Goggin

To address today’s water crisis, the national network of water protectors needs strong leaders. That’s why Building Strong Champions is the essence of River Network’s mission. At its core, Building Strong Champions is building the capacity of individuals and organizations. This blog post is the third in our series highlighting this work: professional development, a… Read More ›

EPA Needs to Hear from Us: Fix Clean Water Act Rollbacks!

by April Ingle

After the Dirty Water Rule went into effect in 2020 more than half of the nation’s wetlands and streams lost Clean Water Act protections. Every day the Dirty Water Rule stays in effect streams and wetlands across the country are at risk of destruction and pollution. We need the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to… Read More ›

Online Accessibility as a Component of Water Equity

by Carly Schmidt
Laptop, mouse, and water cup with straw sitting on a desk overlooking the city of Milkwaukie.

For years, River Network has hosted online webinars, trainings, and peer calls to engage members of the water community around relevant and topical issues. But as many organizations, including River Network, have ramped up online events and digital outreach in the last few years, and particularly over the past 18 months in response to COVID-19,… Read More ›

New Community Leadership Programs for Climate Resilience Launched with River Network Support

by Hannah Mico

Last November, River Network published part one of a two-part toolkit series on Equitable Climate Resilience. This first tool, titled Fostering Community Leadership, introduced community leadership development programs as a way to center equity in conversations, decisions, and community impacts related to climate change. We put the tool to work at the beginning of 2021 by granting three organizations  funds, planning resources, and direct… Read More ›

Community-Led Research Projects Underway in 8 Communities: What Have We Learned?

by Hannah Mico
Three women at a training in a conference room laugh while doing an interactive learning activity.

River Network kicked off 2021 by granting 8 local organizations with funds and technical assistance to design and implement community-led research projects in their communities: the last eight months have been ripe with direct consulting, peer calls for our cohort of grantees, resource sharing, and research to support diverse projects. Community-led research, or CLR, is a strategy that… Read More ›