WORKING TOGETHER TO PRESERVE NEW JERSEY’S PRECIOUS WATER SUPPLY

Groups join forces for Delaware River Watershed Initiative covering environmentally sensitive area reaching from upstate NY to Delaware Bay.

What is it? An ambitious program to protect and restore water quality in eight areas of the Delaware River watershed from upstate New York to the Delaware Bay, including two in New Jersey – the Highlands and the Pinelands.

Using $35 million from the Philadelphia-based William Penn Foundation (full disclosure: the William Penn Foundation is a major funder of NJ Spotlight), the program buys land to prevent development, negotiates long-term agreements with landowners to permanently prevent development, works to eradicate invasive species, and educates citizens to help eradicate sources of pollution like leaky septic systems.