Calling all water advocates! Contact your lawmakers about clean water funding in the 2024-25 PA budget! Right now, members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly are meeting in Harrisburg to negotiate the 2024-25 budget, with a deadline of June 30th. On May 7th, watershed coalition partners from across the Commonwealth met with lawmakers in the Capitol to advocate for clean water investments. We must keep the momentum going, and you can help!
For this year’s budget, we are requesting three key investments: $200 million in renewed dedicated funding for the Clean Streams Fund, Pennsylvania’s first fund to tackle the three top sources of water pollution: acid mine drainage, agricultural runoff, and urban stormwater runoff. The creation of a $100 million special fund that would provide matching grants to fund projects that support trails, parks, and open space. Full fair-share funding of all the interstate basin commissions, which are agencies responsible for monitoring and protecting water quality and quantity. It is often said that budgets reflect priorities, and the health of our waterways must make the priority list this year and every year. Over one-third of Pennsylvania’s 86,000 stream miles are degraded and considered “impaired” by the Department of Environmental Protection.
Members of the General Assembly, especially those on the Appropriations Committees, need to keep hearing about our priorities. Reach out to your lawmakers about these clean water investments and their importance for your local waterways! PennFuture provides a communication tool to facilitate our sharing thoughts on behalf of the Waters of the Commonwealth.
PennFuture provides further explanation behind these budget recommendations in a recent blog and in these background documents.
