The One Water Partnership is Accelerating Restoration and Equity

IPC's One Water Partnership (OWP) program builds regionally based collaborations of faith communities, environmental organizations, and government agencies throughout the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. By bringing together diverse groups with a shared commitment to stewardship, we foster a united approach to addressing the environmental challenges facing our region.

From reducing pollution and runoff, to restoring habitats and promoting sustainable practices, the collective impact of these local restoration efforts is significant in improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. Through education, hands-on projects, and community engagement, the OWP program not only enhances the health of the Bay, but also strengthens the bonds between communities, empowering them to take meaningful action for the environment.

Funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has been instrumental to the One Water Partnership program. Our current grant, which runs through early next year, helped IPC connect with 180 new congregations in the past two years. Through NFWF funding, OWP congregations have installed green stormwater infrastructure projects with some staggering stats:

IPC was recently awarded a new 3-year grant from NFWF's Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant program. This grant allows us to expand and accelerate water quality improvements in target hubs in Maryland through urban green stormwater infrastructure on faith-owned land, with an emphasis on environmental justice communities. The target hubs include counties in the Greater Baltimore region, Anne Arundel County, counties of the Lower Eastern Shore and the Mid-Shore, and new expansion into Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties - about 4,400 congregations.

Our team will continue the strategies that have been successful in the past, while addressing gaps in order to scale up outcomes. Our goals include building a stronger network by giving partners and volunteers more responsibilities, improving our ability to design projects quickly, using advanced mapping tools, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to find the best opportunities for impact, training congregations to care for stormwater projects, and finding ways to fund group projects through conservation finance. This work builds on our existing collaboration with nonprofit organizations and includes new partners from various fields, religious groups, and community organizations focused on environmental justice.

Our One Water Partnership collaboration in Pennsylvania is also supported by NFWF. The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and Lancaster Clean Water Partners have subcontracted IPC on their respective NFWF-funded projects, which all focus on reducing nutrient and sediment runoff and improving the health of our shared Chesapeake watershed. While focused in Lancaster County and its 843 congregations, the Penn State grant is helping us venture into neighboring areas of Lebanon County (209 congregations) and Dauphin County (370 congregations).

The One Water Partnership has a presence in about 7% of the counties in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. However, those counties are home to about 30% of the watershed’s congregations and more than a third of the congregants. As we continue to accelerate restoration and equity in the watershed, help us reach new congregations. With your help we can double our impact by 2027, and prevent two tons of nitrogen and 200 tons of sediment from reaching the Bay each year. 

Please consider supporting this work so that we can reach more congregations to transform water quality!