Since the late 1980’s, the management of water resources in the United States has shifted towards a watershed approach. Watersheds are areas of land that drain to a common body of water. Watershed plans provide a strategy and work plan for achieving water resource goals for a geographically defined watershed. The watershed planning process uses a series of cooperative, iterative steps to characterize existing conditions, identify and prioritize problems, define management objectives, and develop and implement restoration, protection, and monitoring recommendations.
Pennsylvania Sea Grant provides leadership in coordinating watershed planning efforts, including the development of watershed plans, implementation of plan recommendations, monitoring of water resources, and the acquisition of geospatial data necessary to improve water resource management.
Contact Sean Rafferty, Director of Research, for more information.