As an advocate for protecting and restoring the surface waters and groundwater in Teton County, Wyoming, POWJH drives meaningful and lasting change through science-based, forward thinking, collaborative solutions. Our work is dedicated to improving our community’s water quality, now and for future generations, through a multifaceted approach focused on community solutions, advocacy, and education.
Protect Our Water Jackson Hole - Clean Water Guide: A Handbook for Protecting and Restoring Teton County's Vital Water Resources
In Teton County, the Hoback area in the southern region exhibits the poorest water quality, with nitrate concentrations reaching and exceeding levels hazardous to human health. POWJH board member Robert...
POWJH received two consecutive U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Education grants to provide free drinking water well testing resources to our community. Any Teton County, WY private well user can participate.
Fish Creek and parts of Flat Creek have been listed on Wyoming’s Impaired Waters list since 2020 for elevated E. coli bacteria. Despite this, regular monitoring of bacteria levels in these waterbodies has not occurred. POWJH launched a collaborative water quality monitoring program in Spring 2023 to provide data critical to safe recreation and informed management of each creek.
Teton County’s water resources offer countless benefits, from world-class recreation to drinking water for residents and visitors. This suite of tools is designed to make science-based water data information easy to access and understand.
FREE presentations by local scientists where you can relax and enjoy a pint of award-winning beer while you learn about engaging watershed science topics around Jackson Hole.
Public education campaign focused on implementation of trout and stream-friendly landscaping, environmentally conscious land care and home waste monitoring waste to help keep our waterways clean and healthy.
The POWJH Septic System Pumping Cost Share Program offers an incentive to encourage Teton County, WY residents to perform regular maintenance on individual septic systems, prevent groundwater contamination, and protect our Sole Source Aquifer that provides drinking water to nearly the entire population of the region.
While many raised various objections to the "glamping" geodesic domes on WY State Trust Land on Teton Village Road, POWJH led the legal charge against the facility septic system that threatens human health and Fish Creek.
Teton Conservation District and Friends of Fish Creek partnered to provide Teton County, Wyoming, residents the opportunity to receive a rebate for pumping septic systems which had not been maintained in the last 5 years.
POWJH has been a driving force behind Teton County's unprecedented comprehensive water quality planning project that will improve our surface and groundwater resources and protect them from future degradation.
Join Protect Our Water Jackson Hole and Snake River Brewing for some fun in the sun at our Protect Our Pints Yard Party — a celebration of community, clean water, and good times at the Brewpub!
In September 2023, POWJH hosted our first Water Symposium Jackson Hole to catalyze the future of Jackson Hole’s water. This dynamic gathering brought together elected officials, business leaders, philanthropists, and other thought leaders who attended the invitation-only event and explored how various communities are successfully addressing their significant water quality concerns.
POWJH received a nearly $100,000 EPA Environmental Education 2-year grant in 2022 and a $26,000 matching grant from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. During 2023, POWJH staff used these funds to teach lessons to students about our community’s unique watershed ecology and water quality issues.
Partnership with Jackson Hole Public Art for a series of murals around town paired with Augmented Reality animations.
This free event brought the community together to raise awareness, discuss solutions, and inspire action for the water quality issues facing Teton County. It featured more than a dozen fun, interactive, science-based exhibits and activities for the whole family focused on different factors affecting water quality issues in our community.
POWJH launched the Hoback Clean Water Initiative in 2022 to provide Hoback residents with free, clean drinking water as a short-term solution to their water quality problems until a long-term solution unfolds through the Hoback Junction Water & Sewer District. This initiative also helped fund critical studies to get a community drinking water system in place in Hoback Junction.
The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and Protect Our Water Jackson Hole hosted the only candidate forum focused on conservation on October 25, 2022.
Leading up to the local 2022 election, Protect Our Water Jackson Hole talked with local candidates about how they planned to prioritize water quality, alongside other community needs, once they are in office, raising awareness for the issue both among candidates and with the public.
In 2020, POWJH spearheaded the effort to improve water quality protections in the 2012 Teton County Comprehensive Plan updates.
In May 2021, Teton County released proposed updates to the Small Wastewater Facility (septic system) Regulations for Public Comment. POWJH took a leadership role to ensure the proposed rules protected drinking water and the environment.
There have been questions about the quality of the treated effluent being discharged into the Snake River from Teton County's largest wastewater treatment facility. POWJH has partnered with the Town of Jackson to initiate an independent, third-party review of operations at the facility. A request for proposals to hire a consultant was released on July 7, 2021, and POWJH is working with the Town to review submissions to hire the consultant in August 2021.
Leading up to the local 2020 election, Protect Our Water Jackson Hole talked with candidates about how they planned to prioritize water quality, alongside other community needs, once they are in office, raising awareness for the issue both among candidates and with the public.