Conservation District Programs

Dirt and Gravel Roads

Pennsylvania's Dirt and Gravel Road Pollution Prevention Program is a water pollution abatement program that offers local municipalities special funding and technical support, to repair, manage and maintain their dirt and gravel roads in environmentally safe ways. The program is administered through county conservation districts and local Quality Assurance Boards.

The program was signed into law April 1997 by Gov. Tom Ridge, after two things came to light. It was confirmed through scientific data collection techniques involving many volunteers, especially members of Pennsylvania Trout Unlimited, that the most significant pollution degrading the state's watersheds and streams, especially in high quality and exceptional value watersheds, is sedimentation; and that major contributors of sedimentation in otherwise protected headwaters are the state's more than 20,000 miles of publically owned dirt and gravel roads.

Through the oversight of a four-member local Quality Assurance Board (representing the county conservation district, Pa. Fish Commission, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service), the Dirt and Gravel Road Pollution Prevention Program offers municipalities a locally controlled program supported with $4 million annually in non-lapsing funding (apportioned to counties by the Pa. State Conservation Commission) to address water pollution issues specific to dirt and gravel roadways. This allows municipalities to use traditional highway funds for non-water pollution related maintenance of all roadways.