Educators in the Brandywine Creek watershed have new opportunities to connect students to real-world water protection. Through a new partnership with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers, Stroud Water Research Center’s education team is advancing local drinking water protection through the Protect Your Drinking Water Grant Program funded by Aqua Pennsylvania.
The grant supports practical, community-driven projects that reduce pollutants — including excess nutrients, sediment, road salts, and pathogens — before they reach drinking water supplies. Supported efforts include green stormwater infrastructure, streambank stabilization, agricultural best management practices, spill prevention planning, and watershed education.
At the Stroud Center, this support is powering service-learning conservation and restoration projects across the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek watershed. Students, families, and Scouts participate in hands-on watershed health studies and outdoor stewardship activities that build scientific understanding while improving local ecosystems.
One example of this work in action took place in November 2025 at the Scouting America Chester County Council Oscar Lasko Program Activity Resource Campus in Exton, Pennsylvania. Scouts earning their Environmental Science Merit Badge learned about different fields within environmental science and ended the day with a service project.
The group removed invasive grasses and shrubs from a 2,500-square-foot forested area along a tributary of the East Branch of the Brandywine. The group then planted 25 native shrubs in the area to improve wildlife habitat and protect the stream.
Interested in a school or scout program that includes stewardship activities? Request an education program today.
