Janet Pritchard
Director of Water Infrastructure Policy
Janet supports EPIC’s work on the state policy frameworks governing state revolving funds for water infrastructure. As norms and tools for defining and addressing environmental justice concerns are evolved and prioritized, Janet works to fill a critical link by exploring how these norms and tools can be incorporated into the state policy frameworks that determine which communities and water infrastructure projects receive state and federal funding.
Janet’s career has focused on the intersection of equity concerns and regulatory policy. She initiated and led the Climate & Forest Program for ClientEarth, Europe’s premier public interest environmental law organization. This program advocates EU laws to regulate global commodities driving global deforestation, supports civil society organizations in Central and West Africa to secure land and forest rights, and ensures European and Chinese regulation of forest-risk commodities are aligned with the rights and interests of forest-dependent communities. Upon returning to her native state of Wisconsin, Janet shifted to freshwater policies of critical concern in the Great Lakes region, including green infrastructure, water affordability, and lead in drinking water. Janet was appointed to the Milwaukee City-County Task Force on Climate & Economic Equity and Chairs its Finance Work Group. She is also active in Milwaukee’s Coalition on Lead Emergency (COLE). Janet graduated with high honors from the New York University School of Law, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Review of Law and Social Change.
Get to Know Me Further
Thirty years ago, at law school, I anticipated working on civil rights, democracy, or public benefits issues. During an extended break when my three children were young, I became increasingly concerned about climate change and biodiversity loss. This led me to instead take up environmental law when I resumed my career. By focusing on questions of equity, public trust, and good governance within environmental policy, I integrate democracy, civil rights, and public benefits issues into my environmental work. My appreciation for how nature affects our well-being has only grown through the years. My Wisconsin childhood was enriched by the exuberance of sailing and snowman-building as well as the quietude of campfires and canoeing. More recently, my fascination with how trees affect mental and physical health undergirds my advocacy to expand Milwaukee’s urban canopy, and I’ve gotten much better at pausing work and other demands to prioritize daily walks to Lake Michigan or bike rides along the Milwaukee River -- the two shores that bound the community where I live.