Kentucky Waterways Alliance Inc

Watershed program - restore kwa's watershed program encompasses a broad range of initiatives aimed at reducing nonpoint source pollution and strengthening local watershed stewardship. Through its septic assistance program, kwa offers installation and repair services to low-income families, replacing failing systems that threaten water quality in areas like the red river gorge, all funded in part through epa 319 grants. The program's watershed seed grant (kwa 2025 -2027) provides up to 3,000 in project-based funding for small nonprofits and community groups working on nps issues-from stream cleanups to rain gardens-across all seven of kentucky's major river basins. Facilitating peer support and learning, the kentucky watershed network brings together watershed leaders statewide, while locally the red river festival combines community education, outdoor recreation (like canoe races), stream cleanups, and live music to celebrate and protect the watershed-a key recipient of recent kentucky river authority grants supporting this beloved event. It is difficul to estimate the number of individual simpacted by our work - for every family that received a septic install, the entire community and all downriver communities benefit from a reduction in water contamination. We funded seven seed grant projects around the state, each for organiatios that have deep ties with and impact on their communities. Three hundred people attended the red river festival.

Community engagement - celebrate in 2024, kwa deepened its community engagement across the state through a combination of on-the-ground action, public storytelling, and strategic communications. Our commonwealth sweep cleanup series mobilized over 200 volunteers in all seven of kentucky's major river basins-from earth day on beargrass creek to coordinated litter pickups in communities like covington and manchester-reminding kentuckians that clean water starts with local care. We also hosted five public screenings of the documentary this is the ohio: life, death & rebirth of the beautiful river, drawing more than 1,000 attendees to engage in meaningful conversations about the future of the ohio river and our shared responsibility to protect it. This on-the-ground work is amplified by a robust communications strategy that's also a core part of our community engagement: our well-received social media presence, our exceptionally high-performing e-newsletter (with a 60% open rate), and our biannual print magazine all help connect, inform, and mobilize kentuckians around water issues. Taken together, these efforts allow kwa to reach thousands upon thousands of people every year-building not just awareness, but a growing movement for clean, healthy waterways across the commonwealth.

Water policy and advocacy - protect in 2024, kwa's water policy work made significant strides, and we've continued to play a key role in shaping the bipartisan ohio river restoration program, working closely with fellow ngos and congressional champions-rep. Morgan mcgarvey (d-ky) and rep. Erin houchin (r-in)-to advance a federal restoration office and secure long-term investment in the river's health. On the state level, kwa helped halt an illegal, off?permit discharge of 4.5?million gallons of industrial wastewater into the green river, after threatening legal action and raising clean-water concerns with regulators. We also led the advocacy against senate bill?89-which would have rolled back protections for groundwater, wetlands, and headwaters- coordinating coalition efforts to defend kentuckians' water rights. Together, these achievements demonstrate kwa's growing influence in crafting effective water policy at both federal and state levels. Bolstering all of this, donor support allowed us to hire our first water policy director, nick hart, in october 2024.