Clean Water Advocates Program

Applications Are Now OPEN for Wild Virginia’s 2026 Clean Water Advocates Program!

Clean Water Advocates is a FREE online education course that equips and empowers individuals, communities, and organizations to protect Virginia’s water quality. Wild Virginia trains individuals from all backgrounds, experiences, and locations across the Commonwealth.

Advocates graduate with fundamental knowledge of federal and state water protection laws, regulatory processes, and basic advocacy skills that they use to influence environmental decisions and outcomes.

Wild Virginia continually works to advance a diverse, equitable, and inclusive education program that welcomes all individuals. We embed environmental justice into the program through its curriculum, guest speakers, recruitment practices, and post-training opportunities and community partnerships.

Through Wild Virginia’s Clean Water Advocates program, communities, and organizations can build critical advocacy skills, including:

Understanding water-related environmental issues
Reviewing regulatory and technical documents
Writing and submitting public comments
Writing letters to the editor
Communicating with local representatives and public officials
Tracking public notices of agency action
Tracking legislation and regulations
Participating in public hearings and citizen board meetings

Why Become a Clean Water Advocate?

Now, more than ever, it is imperative that members of the public not only know their rights but also how to hold the government accountable for its actions. Clean Water Advocates makes generally accessible the complex legal and technical frameworks that undergird government decisions about the environment. Moreover, Clean Water Advocates helps the public understand how to participate in and influence these decisions in order to protect water resources for the benefit of all.