About Us
Our Mission
The American Water Security Project (AWSP) strives to be the leader in promoting, through education and advocacy, the need for sewage and wastewater infrastructure upgrades and repairs, ethical treatment and pretreatment of used water and human waste, and the protection of the nation’s drinking waters and water bodies from human-borne wastewater pathogens and nutrients. We are committed to these efforts so future Americans may live, work, and pursue life, liberty and happiness with clean drinking water in healthy environments.
Our Vision
The American Water Security Project’s vision is to create a future where Americans can live and thrive in a safe, healthy and prosperous environment with access to clean water. Through education and advocacy, we lead the way in promoting the need for sewage and wastewater infrastructure upgrades and repairs, ethical treatment and pretreatment of used water and human waste, and the protection of the nation’s drinking waters and water bodies from human-borne wastewater pathogens and nutrients.
Origin Story
The American Water Security Project is the brainchild of two prominent water conservationists, outdoorsmen, and scientists: Dr. Brandon Shuler and Kirk Mantay.
Dr. Shuler grew up close to the water and as an avid fisher and surfer always had a deep appreciation of the nation’s waterways and shorelines and the need to protect them and live in harmony with nature.
Spending his summers and a significant part of his life fishing Sanibel Island, Florida waters, Dr. Mantay used the passion he developed for clean water in his home waters of the Chesapeake Bay to forge a career protecting the nation’s waters.
In 2016, after discovering the lengths to which St. Petersburg, Florida would go to avoid badly needed infrastructure fixes, and experiencing the costs of untreated sewage on human health and coastal ecosystems, Dr. Shuler dedicated himself to advancing solutions and funding for wastewater treatment improvements.
From his experiences as a professor, a writer, and an outdoorsman, Dr. Shuler seeks to understand and balance the interconnectedness of our natural habitats, our communities, and the symbiotic nature of our planet.
He recognized the need for Florida citizens to take control of Florida’s wastewater crises. His public education efforts contributed to a 326-million-dollar federal court issuing a consent decree against the City of St. Petersburg that requires them to make the necessary upgrades in a timely fashion.
Kirk Mantay has directed, advised, or implemented over $65 million of strategic and phased pollution reduction work at numerous conservation organizations, and currently manages a $110 million ecological restoration portfolio that spans from North Carolina to New Jersey. These projects include sewer and stormwater retrofits completed as part of strategic pollution load reductions and coastal resiliency efforts, using various types of public-private partnerships to push projects through bureaucratic and funding barriers.
Dr. Shuler and Mr. Mantay are now leveraging their experiences and successes to launch a nationwide campaign that aims to encourage municipalities to address their sewage discharge problems head on and institute the requisite sewage infrastructural upgrades before the nation’s world-famous rivers and coasts—and its economic lifeblood—are irrevocably damaged.
Our Work
The American Water Security Project works on grassroots and grasstops campaigns, in legislative bodies and governmental agencies, in the field, and in science laboratories across the nation. Here is our growing body of work.
Our Staff
Make an Impact
You can make the difference. Join us and help secure a future where Americans can live and thrive in a safe, healthy, and prosperous environment with access to clean water. Together, we can grow our impact and invest in our future.