Mission
The Christina Watersheds Municipal Partnership (CWMP) is a long-term partnership of Pennsylvania municipalities, county agencies, and watershed conservation organizations. The mission of CWMP is to facilitate and support engagement and collaboration of Pennsylvania municipalities, landowners, and other stakeholders to restore and protect the water quality of streams in the Brandywine Creek, Red Clay Creek and White Clay Creek watersheds.
The CWMP is a collaborative of 38 municipalities in the Brandywine, Red Clay, and White Clay watersheds in Pennsylvania
Beneficial Outcomes
Since 2003, this Partnership has provided broad based collaborative education and MS4 regulatory planning and coordination efforts to 38 municipalities and private, non-profit, and government partners in the PA portion of the Christina Basin. The CWMP coordination efforts have achieved significant cost savings and improved consistencies for MS4 municipalities through information sharing, tools and templates, and facilitation of collaborative planning, among other services, and assisted them with watershed-based approaches to regulatory compliance. In recent years, CWMP has assisted municipalities in preparing pollutant reduction and TMDL plans, and for the past two years, has also facilitated 3 pilot areas of multi-municipal collaboration planning in the Brandywine Creek and White Clay Creek watersheds.
Pilot Projects
Three different landscapes; agricultural, urban and suburban, have been selected to pilot a multi-municipal collaborative concept to meet the requirements for TMDL planning in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The landscapes represent different land uses and degrees of impervious surface. Our work continues in each of these pilot areas.
Emerging Challenges
Over the next five years, the CWMP MS4 municipalities will need to complete the approval process of their pollution reduction planning, and then begin a new era of municipal implementation efforts, with the associated financial, regulatory, logistical, and operational uncertainties. This transition to implementation will continue to benefit from flexible and responsive coordination among the partners, and clear communication between the partners and Pennsylvania DEP, to address challenges as they emerge and to most effectively and expeditiously begin reducing pollution within the Christina watersheds.
For a full list of emerging challenges and accomplishments visit CWMP Organizational Description and Services.
Planning and Coordination:
The work of the CWMP is coordinated by a team including; Brandywine Red Clay Alliance, Gaadt Perspectives, Chester County Water Resources Authority, Brandywine Conservancy, Chester County Conservation District, David Ross, Ph.D. (Bryn Mawr College), Stroud Water Research Center and White Clay Creek Wild & Scenic Program. Our team plans four quarterly meetings for the 38 municipal partners each year and coordinates with our regulatory, municipal, academic and funding partners to improve the streams in the Christina Watershed.
CWMP Project Funders:
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
CWMP Contact Information:
For more information about CWMP, please contact Brian Winslow BRC’s Watershed Conservation Director.