Rally Ho!

Mayor Peduto speaks to the importance of Pittsburgh rivers

Q: What do Robert F. Kennedy Jr., award winning environmentalist Ma Jun and Pittsburgh’s Kim Teplitzky have in common? 

A.They care, deeply, about rivers.

River Rally 2014, a joint conference of River Network and Waterkeeper Alliance, took place in Pittsburgh this past weekend and it was a lot of fun. Attendees traveled from Iraq, Senegal, China, Mexico and across the United States to learn and to share their experiences working to protect our water resources across the globe.

Rivers are great conveners, and what better place than the three rivers for a gathering of people dedicated to protecting them? Though, truthfully, the question of exactly how many rivers Pittsburgh may lay claim to was raised more then once. As in, to horrifically "borrow from" (butcher) Shakespeare, a river by any other name…may still flow with the same water. I digress.

The four-day-long River Rally schedule was packed with workshops led by scientists, policy makers and local advocates. Participants could learn about anything from the role of macroinvertabrates in determining stream health thanks to Stroud Water Research Center, to the details of the newly proposed Waters of the U.S. Rule, to how best to build a volunteer base. The conference wasn't all talk, however. Sunday field trips included a tour of Ohiopyle State Park led by author Tim Palmer, a trip to see gas drilling well sites to learn more about fracking and, closer to home, a float on the Allegheny where conference attendees cleaned piles of trash out of our river (Pittsburgh THANKS you).

I had the pleasure of attending all four days and I learned a lot. Beyond important policy and academic knowledge, however, was a sense of just how many people care about our waterways. Many environmental organizations run with just a handful of staff working to clean up small streams in their own back yard. The impact of that work can often feel like a drop in the bucket (intended) until those groups are pulled together into one room. There were hundreds of people in attendance this year. Considering that we all need clean water to live, next year, in New Mexico, I hope to see thousands.

Valessa Souter-Kline is PennFuture's western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @ValessaSK.