From picturesque white water rivers, to our trout streams, to our lush forestry, West Virginia is a state known for its water. However, we’re also very familiar with a variety of water crises. To ensure clean water for drinking, recreation and tourism activities, we’ve partnered with Friends of the Tug Watershed to understand the critical need for water infrastructure and cleanup efforts. As part of our broader initiatives, we’re researching hydropower and related conservation practices to create power from abundant waterways while protecting the unique landscape. 

In order to establish a better emergency response system for the long term, we’ve begun testing hydropanels at the DRT Environment. Through a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, SOURCE Global, EDGE & T & T Organics, we’ve installed 60 hydropanels at the DRT Environment. The SOURCE drinking water system pulls water vapor from the air and uses sunlight to convert it to a pure liquid state, then mineralizes it for health and taste. SOURCE hydropanels have the capability of producing up to 66,000 liters of clean drinking water per year. In case of an emergency, this could supply 25-30 families with 42 liters of water per week for the year.