Integrated Water Quality Report<\/a>.<\/p>\nOn The Spark, Jill Whitcomb, DEP deputy secretary for water programs, and Dustin Shull, assessment section chief with the Bureau of Clean Water, explained how the report helps Pennsylvanians better understand the condition of the waterways they fish in, swim in and rely on for drinking water. \u201cThis report really tells Pennsylvanians how healthy their streams are,\u201d Whitcomb said. \u201cThe water that\u2019s flowing in their backyard, the water they might go out to go fishing in, or the water they drink from\u2014how healthy that is\u2014that\u2019s really the point of this entire report.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report evaluates approximately 85,000 miles of streams across the Commonwealth, measuring water quality for several designated uses, including aquatic life, recreation and public water supply. Scientists collect and analyze millions of data points, ranging from water chemistry and bacteria levels to fish populations and aquatic insects. \u201cWe have millions of data points that go into our 85,000 stream miles in Pennsylvania,\u201d Shull said. \u201cIt\u2019s a letter to Pennsylvanians talking about the quality of our rivers and streams.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the report\u2019s key findings is that a waterway can be considered healthy for one use while impaired for another. For example, a stream may be safe for swimming but not support a healthy fish or insect population. \u201cA particular stream actually might be okay for people to walk in or to swim in\u2026 and that\u2019s how one use could be impaired but another one could be supporting,\u201d Shull explained.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s report also includes encouraging news. Whitcomb said more data than ever before was submitted by partners across the state, and several waterways have improved enough to be removed from Pennsylvania\u2019s impaired waters list. \u201cEvery time we see more restored streams, or streams that have impairments that are delisted, that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d Whitcomb said. \u201cWe have some success stories\u2026 including Presque Isle Bay in Erie and streams within the Chesapeake Bay watershed that are seeing incremental improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time, the 2026 report also separates Pennsylvania\u2019s \u201cspecial protection\u201d streams into their own assessment category, giving residents a clearer picture of the health of some of the Commonwealth\u2019s highest-quality waterways.<\/p>\n
Listen to the podcast to hear the conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Listen to The Spark on your favorite platform<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
August 4, 2026 | 6:00 AM
Asia Tabb
Asia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-258963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Asia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/aa760ff2f0553b061b33268fc66eb8ff48375f82476e32c5860e9da9e477a9f5.png\" "\\"Asia")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Tank](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2018-8-6-k-paynter-environmentalist_-4-1620x1080.jpg\")
<\/p>\n