Watershed Restoration

We help protect and restore area watersheds.

If you are part of an area watershed association or municipality, we can help with your next watershed project. We provide assistance with permits, streambank stabilization, pollution cleanup, grant applications, project monitoring, and other work-related to protecting and restoring your watershed. 

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What is a watershed?

Just as there are a number of towns, cities, and boroughs in Westmoreland County, there also are a number of different watersheds. The boundaries of towns and cities and boroughs are somewhat arbitrary, and the dividing lines are drawn by people. The boundaries of watersheds, on the other hand, are determined by nature; more specifically, by the way water flows across the land.

When rain hits the surface of the ground, the slope and shape of the terrain cause the rain to flow in a certain direction. All of the flowing water that ends up in the same place — for instance, in a certain creek or river — is considered to be in the same watershed. All the land that this water flowed over also is considered to be in that same watershed.

So if rain falls on the ground at a given point in Westmoreland County – and the slope and shape of the land cause it to flow into Sewickley Creek – then the rainwater and the land it flowed over would be in the Sewickley Creek Watershed.

Of course, the water wouldn’t stop flowing once it joined Sewickley Creek. It would continue to travel, first into the Youghiogheny River, then into the Monongahela River, and then into the Ohio River, and so on…. so the water (and the land it flowed over) could also be considered to be part of each of these larger watersheds.