Celebrating 10 Years of Lancaster Water Week

Lancaster Conservancy began Lancaster Water Week in 2017 with the goal of educating and empowering our community to care for the 1,400 miles of streams and rivers in Lancaster County. From an initial 12 events and tree giveaways out of the back of a car, Water Week has grown to an energizing county-wide celebration engaging dozens of partners and thousands of community members around our waterways.

From June 5-13, 2026, we’re marking the 10^th anniversary of Lancaster Water Week with over 60 events hosted by more than 40 partners!

Why Water Week?

Lancaster County is home to over 1,400 miles of streams and rivers, which are the source of our drinking water, drive economic and agricultural growth, provide habitat for wildlife, and offer places where we can escape into nature to fish, paddle, and swim. Unfortunately, over 90% of Lancaster County’s waterways are considered impaired, or unhealthy, according to the 2026 Pennsylvania Integrated Water Quality Report.

As rainwater travels over the roads, lawns, parking lots, and farm fields, it can pick up harmful pesticides, fertilizers, litter, and sediment, which then pollute our streams and rivers. This can make these waterways unable to support healthy populations of aquatic life, more challenging and expensive to treat for drinking water, or unsafe for recreation like swimming and fishing. However, there is an incredible effort underway throughout Lancaster County to clean up and protect our waterways, which is highlighted each year during Lancaster Water Week.

From nonprofits working to protect and clean up our streams to businesses implementing responsible land use practices to individuals creating rain gardens and planting native trees in their yards, the community is rallying around our waterways. (Just check out this amazing list of partners involved in Water Week 2026!) During Lancaster Water Week, we celebrate the strides we are taking as a community to care for our watersheds, highlight all the important work being done around the county, and encourage everyone to take action for our streams and rivers.

Nine Years of Impact

Over the first nine years of Lancaster Water Week, thousands of attendees have participated in more than 300 Water Week events. The Conservancy, in partnership with the Keystone 10 Million Trees Project and Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, has given away over 10,000 free native trees and shrubs, which help to protect waterways by filtering polluted stormwater before it enters streams and rivers while also providing wildlife habitat. And with the support of Water Week sponsors, over $300,000 has been contributed to the Lancaster Clean Water Fund and grants which fuel clean water projects. The Lancaster Clean Water Fund is managed by the Lancaster County Community Foundation and the Lancaster Clean Water Partners.

Check out photos of past Water Week events on our Facebook page!

Water Week continues to inspire us at the Lancaster Conservancy and reminds us that it takes everyone coming together, collaborating, and getting creative to restore clean waterways in our lifetime. We are so grateful to the partners and sponsors who make the week possible. And we are thankful to everyone who joins us at events throughout the week, excited to learn and connect and maybe take home a native tree or flower to plant. You give us hope. Thank you for being part of our community’s clean water movement!