Executive Director's Message

Winter 2025: News & Views from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission!

While drafting my message for this edition of our newsletter, I was struck by the routine nature of our recent work and how that didn’t lend itself well to an exciting update. Round two of one grant, round four of another. Seeking comments on another quarter of water project applications and creating our fourth general permit. Updates on studies we’ve been conducting for more than two decades. But then I realized that when it comes to managing the water resources of our basin, routine is something to be celebrated. Routine, when it comes to science, is essential. Routine leads to robust datasets of knowledge. Routine funds beneficial restoration projects year after year. Routine cements practices and preparedness that enable us to respond in the best possible manner to non-routine needs, emergencies, and other unexpected events. Seen in this light, routine leads to a more stable future, even as we venture through a changing landscape and climate.

Just because we have routine activities, doesn’t mean our methods or visions are routine. We must constantly evolve with technology, the industries we regulate, and the natural forces of the basin itself. So from routine, we have the solid foundation from which to evolve and/or innovate. For example, you’ll read below about an update to an old resolution that expands the encouragement of dry cooling technology to emerging large-scale water users like cryptocurrency and data centers. We seek out novel water conservation ideas to fund through our Consumptive Use Mitigation grants like the use of satellite technology or electrostatic droplet capture. So as we head into a new year, we’ll stick with the same old routine of solid science, adaptive regulating and forward-thinking management of our basin’s most precious resource.

Best regards,
Andrew D. Dehoff, P.E.
Executive Director