What are Community Consensus Reports?
As southwestern Pennsylvania continues to evolve from its industrial past to become a national leader in innovation and sustainability, it has encountered a complex set of water challenges that threaten the economy, ecology, and public health of the region. In this context, the Heinz Endowments has funded the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory to hold a series of consensus-building meetings among regional academic scholars, community groups, governmental and non-governmental organizations. These meetings (one each on green infrastructure, water quality, and flooding) aim to identify key regional knowledge gaps and chart a collaborative research agenda to fill these gaps and enhance the region’s ability to strategically and creatively solve water problems. The community consensus reports posted here summarize and synthesize the outcomes of those meetings, as well as provide some suggested paths forward.