Aqua Pennsylvania partnered with Natural Lands for an important floodplain restoration project along Crum Creek at Hildacy Preserve in Media, Delaware County.
The event was part of Essential Earth Day, a month-long celebration of volunteer events, donations, and employee education opportunities in line with the company’s mission of protecting and providing Earth’s most essential resources and improving the communities it serves.
“We take pride in environmental protection and giving back to the communities we serve and also call home,” said Aqua Pennsylvania President Marc Lucca. “Aqua Pennsylvania employees who are volunteering here today share a deep commitment to improving the environment and protecting our waterways. As environmental stewards, we must safeguard the very resource that sustains us all: water.”
During the volunteer event, 25 Aqua Pennsylvania employees spent the morning planting trees in the deer exclosure area of Hildacy Preserve. The project is funded through a $9,500 grant through Aqua’s “Protect Your Drinking Water” program. This year’s tree planting continues the ongoing work to replicate the natural habitat at Hildacy Preserve.
Through the years, the overpopulation of deer has negatively impacted the trees and vegetation at the Preserve. The eight-foot-high exclusion fence helps keep deer out but has openings in the wire that allow other animals to come and go freely. The revitalization work at Hildacy Preserve is crucial in protecting Crum Creek as a source of drinking water.
“Volunteers are essential to the work we do at Natural Lands,” said Volunteer Program Manager Ellie Ezekiel. “Our nonprofit organization cares for more than 23,000 acres of protected open space across eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. All of this is open to the public, free of charge, year-round. And volunteers like the hard-working folks from Aqua help make our properties places for both people and nature to thrive.”
Think Globally, Act Locally – Make Earth Day Every Day
Essential Earth Day is part of the company’s comprehensive commitment to the environment and the communities it serves. Since the initiative launched in 2022, Essential has donated $4 million, and employees have logged thousands of hours to support environmental causes, including litter cleanups, reforestation projects, and other conservation efforts.
Learn more at Aqua Pennsylvania and how the utility serves approximately 1.5 million people in 33 counties throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Follow @MyAquaWater on Facebook and @MyAquaWater on X.
