Securing Clean Water for the Future

For the past several decades, threats to America’s water bodies have been on the rise. From harmful algal blooms choking water intake pipes in Toledo, Ohio, to the erosion and degradation of shoreline in coastal areas, the safety of our water is at stake.

When I was growing up, I never stopped to worry if the water around my house would make me sick, or if there would be enough to go around. As a Midwestern country kid, I hunted crawdads in the creek and drank water straight from a garden hose outside. It wasn’t until a  service trip to Haiti as a teenager that I saw people drinking, bathing and washing clothes in the same open stream. I got to see well drilling in action and the joy that erupted with the first flow of clear, safe water. 

These experiences sparked my lifelong passion to make sure everyone, everywhere has safe water. It’s a commitment that has taken me to more than 30 countries in the course of my career, including several years in Southeast Asia, and now to ScottsMiracle-Gro, where I’m focusing my efforts on tackling water quality issues head-on. 

Protecting water resources is our core environmental commitment, as a company and as a foundation. Over the past decade, we have committed ourselves to this issue through product development, consumer education and philanthropic grants. We’ve made major formulation changes, supported the advancement of scientific research and encouraged public policy achievements like Ohio’s recently created H2Ohio Fund.

Each spring, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation hosts a gathering of its environmental nonprofit partners, 16 leading organizations that collectively impact 130 million Americans in their efforts to protect our water resources. We bring together ScottsMiracle-Gro scientists and leaders, along with these nonprofit changemakers, for two days of idea sharing and inspiration. Together, we look for ways to protect critical coastal areas like Florida’s Gulf Coast, the Chesapeake Bay, Texas’ Galveston Bay and the Great Lakes.

Over the next several weeks, keep your eyes on this space. We’ll be sharing stories from several of our environmental partners who are on the frontlines, improving their communities and making a difference in coastal water quality.