“30 x 30” Stream Restoration strategy

This project aims to rapidly restore agriculturally-impaired streams by accelerating the strategic implementation of BMPs to improve water quality and habitat. Project partners aim to fully implement data-driven restoration plans for selected stream segments between 2020-2025 such that the stream reaches the attainment status and is successfully delisted from Pennsylvania’s list of impaired waterways per section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act by the year 2030. Streams included in this delisting strategy are designated as impaired for aquatic life use due to agricultural sources. Attainment is measured using the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) which assesses the health of the benthic macroinvertebrate communities.

Selecting the priority streams for the rapid stream delisting strategy in Pennsylvania was a consensus and data-driven process. Over 100 individuals from 7 counties participated in workshops spanning months, during which thousands of data points about on-the-ground restoration efforts were collected. Partners reviewed dozens of supplementary datasets that were compiled and created for the project. Ultimately, streams were selected where partners could advance momentum in places that have potential for the fastest recovery, and where partners could expect efficient implementation of restoration activities.

The Lancaster Clean Water Partners has a goal to restore 38 impaired streams in Lancaster County by 2030. Nutrient and sediment pollution have made more than half of Lancaster’s 1,400 miles of streams unsafe for drinking, recreation, as well as critical insect and fish populations. But many partners throughout the county are working to rapidly restore these waterways using a new and innovative strategy called “rapid stream delisting.” Additionally, nutrient and sediment pollution levels will have decreased enough for critter and fish populations to live and thrive in the stream again.

The delisting strategy couples cutting-edge mapping data analysis with an extensive partnership effort to align limited resources toward delisting streams on an accelerated time frame.

Across the Commonwealth