Water Quality and Economic Benefits of Forested Watersheds: Request for Proposals

U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, Greenville, SCFor IMMEDIATE RELEASE (February 4, 2015)

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, in partnership with the Water Research Foundation (www.waterrf.org), today announced a request for proposals to plan and convene a workshop to assess the state of the science for forested watershed protection as it relates to water quality and the impact on drinking water costs.

“Two-thirds of the drinking water in the U.S. originates in a forest,” said Peter Stangel, the Endowment’sSenior Vice President. “We know that healthy, well-managed forests produce cleaner water. There is increasing evidence that good management and protection of forested watersheds may reduce drinking water treatment costs. This workshop will bring together diverse experts to improve our understanding of the link between forest management practices and drinking water costs. This will help water utilities,communities and forest managers invest more confidently in source water protection activities.”

The workshop will result in a synthesis and evaluation of research on forested watershed protection that has taken place since the Water Research Foundation and the Water Environment Research Foundation convened a group with similar intent in 2007. It will also evaluate progress in implementing recommendations from the Source Water Protection Vision and Roadmap, which was developed as a result of the 2007 workshop.

In addition to identifying success stories and barriers to watershed protection efforts, this planned workshop will produce specific recommendations for future research in areas such as fiscal accounting for source water protection, models for estimating economic costs, and financing mechanisms.

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For more information contact:
Peter Stangel, Senior Vice President, 404-915-2763; peter@usendowment.org

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) is a not-for-profit public charity working collaboratively with partners in the public and private sectors to advance systemic,transformative, and sustainable change for the health and vitality of the nation’s working forests andforest-reliant communities – www.usendowment.org.
Katie Henderson, Research Manager, 303-347-6108; khenderson@waterrf.org

The Water Research Foundation is an internationally recognized leader in water research that is dedicated to advancing the science of water by sponsoring cutting-edge research and promoting collaboration. Our research provides industry insights and practical solutions to the most complex challenges facing the water community today and into the future – www.waterrf.org.