Since 1967, Stroud Water Research Center has focused on one thing — fresh water.
We advance knowledge and stewardship of freshwater systems through global research, education, and watershed restoration.

What We Do

Freshwater Research

Environmental Education

Watershed Restoration

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Road Salt is Polluting Fresh Water

Salt keeps us safe on icy roads — but it’s also quietly harming waterways.

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Latest News

2025 SAFE Award O'Callaghan and Board Members.

Paul O’Callaghan Receives 2025 Stroud Award for Freshwater Excellence

The water scientist and documentary filmmaker inspired gala attendees with his hopeful message about the future of fresh water.

Coach Dick Vermeil’s Legacy of Clean Water

The legendary football coach knows victories — but his greatest win for Chester County may be restoring streams and protecting fresh water on his farm.

A penny shows the scale of seven-day-old New Zealand mud snails being reared in a laboratory.

Leaf Pack Monitoring Finds Invasive New Zealand Mud Snail in Ridley Creek

A community creek monitoring event revealed one of the highest densities of invasive New Zealand mud snails ever observed in the region.

A streambank before riparian reforestation.

Digging Into Soil Health

Healthy soil is the foundation of a thriving ecosystem and clean surface water; yet it’s often an overlooked element in restoration work.

Dave Wise receives the Fran Flanigan Environmental Leadership Award from the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.

Stroud Center’s David Wise Honored With Environmental Leadership Award

The Fran Flanigan Environmental Leadership Award recognizes exceptional dedication to restoring cleaner rivers and streams across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Students engaging in watershed science using the Shared Waters curriculum.

Shared Waters Curriculum Brings the Leaf Pack Network to Elementary Students

Designed for grades 3–6, the curriculum teaches how everyday choices affect stream health and empowers students to protect local waterways.

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Featured Initiatives and Partnerships

WikiWatershed® web tools offer watershed data visualization, geospatial analysis capabilities, and science-based predictions of human impacts on stormwater runoff and water quality.

The Water Quality mobile app is a water-monitoring data-collection and learning tool designed for use by educators and their students, citizen scientists, and researchers.

EnviroDIY™ is a community where members ask and answer questions and network within interest groups to develop do-it-yourself environmental science and monitoring devices.

The Society for Freshwater Science Taxonomic Certification Program ensures skilled persons are providing aquatic invertebrate identifications in North America.

The Leaf Pack Network® is an international network of teachers, students, and citizen monitors using a simple experiment to determine the health of their local streams.

The Consortium for Scientific Assistance to Watersheds provides free technical assistance to Pennsylvania-based watershed and conservation organizations.