The Clean Drinking Water Coalition (CDWC), comprised of the New York Public Interest Research Group Fund, Inc. (NYPIRG), Riverkeeper, Inc., The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, The Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the Open Space Institute (OSI) works to ensure that the unfiltered drinking water consumed by almost 10 million New York City, Westchester, Putnam, Orange and Ulster County residents remains high quality.

In 1989, EPA promulgated the Surface Water Treatment Rule to protect drinking water sources nationwide pursuant to the 1986 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments. These federal regulations required that drinking water from surface waters be filtered unless it could be clearly demonstrated that harmful activities around these waters could be controlled. In response, New York City put forth new rules and regulations aimed at protecting its drinking water sources; however, these requirements prompted an outcry from many of the towns in the watershed concerned with these new restrictions.

In 1997, federal, state and local officials together with key environmental groups — the CDWC —negotiated an agreement that would end litigation, consider the property rights of the communities in the watershed, and provide resources and a framework for protecting the drinking water supply in its unfiltered state: The Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).

Each member of the CDWC brings a unique set of experience and talents to advocacy in this area. NYPIRG has been one of New York State's strongest environmental advocacy and organizing groups for almost three decades; Riverkeeper has a reputation for strong advocacy and litigation on behalf of a clean Hudson River and safe drinking water; The Catskill Center has been one of the most important local environmental and economic development groups west of the Hudson; and both the Trust for Public Land and Open Space Institute have unprecedented expertise in land acquisition that has been a critical element of the plan to protect the watershed area.

The Clean Drinking Water Coalition not only played a critical role in shaping the MOA, which is the best chance for New York to both preserve drinking water quality and avoid a tremendous economic burden if filtration is ordered, it also has been vital to ongoing monitoring and implementation of this landmark agreement.

The Scherman Foundation and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation have generously given the Coalition the resources to play a key watchdog role since 1994.

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New York Public Interest Research Group Fund, Inc. (NYPIRG) Riverkeeper, Inc.
The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development The Trust for Public Land (TPL) Open Space Institute (OSI)