Lancaster Clean Water Fund

Clean water is a priority across all of Lancaster County, especially since over half of our streams and much of our groundwater is impaired. When waterways and groundwater are impaired, it’s detrimental to quality of life and the local community in many ways – it slows or stops economic development, limits recreational activities, harms wildlife habitats, reduces biodiversity, and can lead to unsafe drinking water. 

A collaborative group of partners, managed by the Lancaster Clean Water Partners, are ready to work with landowners and leaders on restoration and protection projects in priority places to make a difference in our local water quality. But we need financial support to accomplish those projects.

The Lancaster Clean Water Fund serves as a catalyst for increased collaboration to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of current and future clean water projects. You can be part of the countywide collective effort for clean water!

With your donation, the Clean Water Fund will serve as a central location of continuous financial resources for Lancaster’s clean water projects. Your financial support will grow the fund so it can truly serve our community members on a long-term basis and expand the collective impact of projects across the county.

Foundation and corporate donors can feel confident that a group of local experts will get the dollars to the most effective, priority projects in the county. 

Lancaster County is a top priority for Pennsylvania’s Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP), which is a requirement from the EPA to reduce pollutants (nitrogen and phosphorus) in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Projects funded through the Clean Water Fund contribute to the required pollutant reductions. Learn more about Lancaster’s Countywide Action Plan, Lancaster’s path for achieving nitrogen and phosphorus reductions for clean and clear water throughout the county.

This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction grants program, which support efforts with the Chesapeake Bay watershed to accelerate nutrient and sediment reductions with innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective approaches.