Eastern Kentucky Flooding in July 2022

KWA has been following the ongoing disaster in Eastern Kentucky from historic and sudden flooding in late July. Our hearts go out to all of those that were affected - those that lost loved ones, those that lost homes, those that were sickened by the contaminated waters and the mold that grew, and those suffering from the mental and emotional stress of it all. We have donated to fundraisers, amplified voices from the area in our social media, and we have done one trip to Breathitt County. The photo above shows some of the flooding there.

We are thinking about what else we can do to be helpful. We want to be constructive while also being compassionate. Many of our members and partner organizations are talking about the causes of the flooding. There is good evidence to support the role of climate change, mountaintop removal for coal mining, and lack of infrastructure as contributors to the devastation. KWA will continue to highlight those issues, but right now we are thinking of our fellow Kentuckians and how to support them. When the initial response and recovery efforts are completed, KWA will be working with our partners to be part of the solutions, which are complex and will take time. Here are some things we are considering, based on our mission statement. 

• Restore: We know that we need to work on a watershed basis, from the ridge top to the floodplain to the waterway, to manage flooding and flood risk. And we need to restore those waterways with natural infrastructure solutions that are sustainable and resilient. That is what we do in our Watershed Program.
  
• Protect: We also know that we need strong protection for waterways and floodplains. KWA's Water Policy work advocates for effective regulation and funding. Unfortunately, even as we are celebrating the 50th year of the Clean Water Act, we are fighting just to keep basic protections. One example is the upcoming  US Supreme Court case that might remove Clean Water Act protection from wetlands and ephemeral streams. On the positive side, there are funding sources coming to address legacy impacts, like the STREAM Act for reclamation of old mine sites; the lack of infrastructure investment, like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and soon-to-be passed Inflation Reduction Act; and wildlife habitat restoration in the still-pending Recovering America's Wildlife Act.
  
• Celebrate: We will celebrate the beauty and value of waterways - even those that sometimes rise up out of their banks and hurt our communities. The waterways tie us together in so many ways. The values of our waterways are so many and so profound, it's hard to list them. This is why we turn to artists and musicians to help us articulate these deep truths.