Pacific Northwest Watershed Managers

Source water protection is an essential component of the multiple barrier approach for production of high quality water from surface water supplies. A limited number of surface water systems serving moderate to large-sized cities in the U.S. and Canada are able to remain unfiltered under current regulations, in part, by virtue of their source water protection programs. Concurrent with these challenges is the need to protect and recover populations of threatened and endangered terrestrial and aquatic species located within and adjacent to municipal watersheds. Watershed managers are also increasingly called upon to control the introduction and spread of invasive plants and invasive aquatic species in municipal watersheds. In response to these and other emerging challenges such as climate change, watershed managers from the six largest unfiltered systems in the Pacific Northwest created an alliance – the Pacific Northwest Watershed Managers Group -- to exchange information about their programs, policies, and best management practices.