Summary
Forming a watershed partnership is the essential first step for addressing AMD at a meaningful scale. No single agency or organization can tackle Pennsylvania’s abandoned mine drainage problems alone. Partnership brings together citizens, government, industry, and researchers with the organizational strength to do what none can do individually. This page covers why partnerships work, how to get started, and what sustains them over time.
Why Form a Partnership? #
The extensive problems of contaminated AMD from abandoned mines far outweigh the limited resources and regulatory authority available to agency staff alone. Where dedicated citizens and the local groups they represent have joined with government researchers and commercial interests, real progress has been achieved.
Developing a watershed partnership ensures that no single entity bears sole responsibility. All interested agencies, civic groups, elected officials, businesses, industries, and individuals develop a stake in the process and its outcome. This creates an effort more than the sum of its parts — and provides the organizational strength to weather the challenges that inevitably arise.
Getting Started #
If little is happening in your watershed, you may be the spark. Others in your area likely feel the same way — they are often waiting for someone to take the lead. Government personnel can help involve agencies and leverage funding, but the spark for many successful clean-up projects has come from individual citizens.
Practical advice from watershed practitioners:
- People engage most readily with what affects them personally. Start with local impacts.
- Use outreach — newspaper articles, community events — to make activities known to potential partners.
- Getting the ear of local elected officials can identify funding and open agency doors.
- Keep the effort visible to maintain partner motivation and attract new members.
Building the Organization #
As your group analyzes problems, educates the public, and recruits partners, involvement will grow. A technical committee is usually the core of effective partnerships, ideally including representatives from mining and water quality agencies, conservation programs, universities, engineering firms, landowners, public officials, and community members. The committee reviews monitoring results, available funding, site requirements, and landowner participation to guide decisions.
Sustaining the Partnership #
Once clean-up work begins, monitor both installed treatment systems and the water quality they are designed to improve. Establish a volunteer monitoring program as a permanent part of environmental oversight. Share your experience with newer groups — linking with statewide partnerships builds strong regional networks and develops local affiliates as knowledge is shared across the AML community.
Source: EPA Region 3, A Citizen’s Guide to Address Contaminated Coal Mine Drainage, EPA-903-K-97-003.
Related Pages #
- The Watershed Approach
- Incorporate as a Non-Profit
- Finding Assistance
- Funding Sources
- Maintaining Your Effort
- Restoration Planning (Watershed Tools)
Source and Last Reviewed
Source: EPA Region 3, A Citizen’s Guide to Address Contaminated Coal Mine Drainage, EPA-903-K-97-003.
Last reviewed: 2026-03
Tags: planning, practitioner, program-manager, community-development, pa
