There are many different ways you can support the health of the Nine Mile Run Watershed. We encourage you to explore the tabs below to find the action items that best fit your interests.
How YOU can help Nine Mile Run
- Become an NMR member or give the gift of membership
- Manage stormwater sustainably at your home or business with a rain barrel, rain garden, or stormwater planter from our StormWorks team
- Plant a tree, pick up litter, or celebrate our work at an NMR event!
Choose NMR as the nonprofit of your choice for your Amazon account through Amazon Smile - Donate to the Nine Mile Run Fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation *
- Include us in your estate planning *
- Host a fundraiser to benefit NMR *
- Ask your employer to consider sponsoring NMR *
* To get involved with any of these programs, please contact our Executive Director, Brenda Smith, at or (412) 371-8779 ext. 113.
- Participate in the Our Water, Our Rivers Campaign, which is the evolution of both the Clean Rivers Campaign and Our Water Campaign
- Join a committee or local civic group and ensure a voice for the environment is present!
- If you see any of the following, please report to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection: fish kill or algal bloom, public sewer leaks, oil or hazardous material spill, sedimentation runoff, or critical area or wetlands violations. If you see any of these things in the Nine Mile Run restoration area, please also contact our staff, AFTER you report to PADEP.
- Submit letters to the editors of local news outlets about environmental issues in your area.
- Provide comments to your elected officials to the local, state, and federal government on environmental issues.
- Do you have a group of volunteers and would like to donate your time to the watershed? Fill out this Group Volunteer form
- Volunteer or intern with NMR
- Apply to join the NMR Board of Directors
- Make an ongoing commitment by becoming an Urban EcoSteward or a Watershed Tree Tender
- Help track the health of Pittsburgh’s waterways using the Water Reporter app. Through the app you can share beautiful snapshots or report pollution issues.If you are a student or an educator, consider conducting a service learning project in the NMR restoration area
- Attend NMR workshops and events
- Learn more about the dynamics of a watershed through our watershed, forestry, and monitoring pages
- Utilize online citizen science tools, such as iNaturalist and eBird
- Organize a presentation from our staff members to your group/class
- Coordinate a walking tour with NMRWA about the watershed, green infrastructure, urban forestry, or stream restoration and stewardship
- Go for a walk or bike ride along Nine Mile Run! Bring a pet, a friend, or just your own two feet!
- Send us your pics, video, artwork of the watershed
- Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter
- Follow NMR & StormWorks on Facebook. Share or comment on our posts, we’d love to hear from you!
- Let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas about our work!
- Use biodegradable soaps and avoid antibacterial soaps; avoid using “flushable” wipes, which clog up the sewer system.
- Use sidewalk salt sparingly; stick to more environmentally friendly ingredients like magnesium chloride or potassium chloride to protect your lawn, trees, and pets.
- Compost food scraps in a compost container to reduce the amount of waste going to our landfills. The resulting compost makes for a great fertilizer for gardens!
- Cut back on unnecessary water usage, especially during and after rainfall to reduce the amount of sewage water that overflows into Pittsburgh’s waterways. Sign up for notifications of when sewage overflows are occurring on ALCOSAN’s website.
- Collect rainwater for your lawn or garden with a rain barrel from our StormWorks team.
- Beautify your property and reduce stormwater runoff to the sewer with a rain garden or stormwater planter from StormWorks.
- Save your unwanted chemicals and medications for Pennsylvania Resource Council’s Collection Events.
- Pick up litter in your neighborhood. Check out the Litterati app as a way to track what you’ve picked up and share your finds via social media.
