PHILADELPHIA - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $14.4 million to improve the health of local waterbodies in Delaware ($1.3M), the District of Columbia ($1M), Maryland ($2.3M), Pennsylvania ($4.8M), Virginia ($3.2M), and West Virginia ($1.9M). This annual allocation is part of the Clean Water Act’s Section 319 grant program and is intended to curb nonpoint source pollution (NPS) which occurs when runoff from rain or snow carries pollutants into waterways such as rivers, wetlands, and groundwater.   

Because NPS does not come from a single source, pipe, or facility, it is typically more difficult to address. Under Section 319, states, territories and tribes receive grant money from EPA that supports a wide variety of activities such as technical and financial assistance, education, training, demonstration projects and monitoring to assess the success of specific nonpoint source implementation projects.   

Announced in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz highlighted the significant impact this funding has had since Congress enacted the program in 1987. In a joint press conference with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), Ortiz and state and local leaders discussed the success of past efforts before unveiling DEP's most recently selected projects and announcing the newly awarded $4.8 million grant package to Pennsylvania.  

"Nearly 40 years ago, our elected leaders understood the importance of addressing things like runoff from farms and urban areas, but what they couldn’t have know back then is exactly how important these grants would become,” said Adam Ortiz, EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator. “Because of the strategic and intentional efforts to address this type of pollution, Pennsylvania is improving not only it’s local water quality, but also that of downstream waters like the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River watersheds.”  

Using last year’s Section 319 grant, Pennsylvania selected 12 projects that are expected to reduce runoff, stabilize stream banks, and fund planning that will make for efficient implementation moving forward. Examples include:  

  --  Doc Fritchey Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Lebanon County: The project proposes to restore a floodplain, create five acres of wetlands, and install more than 10 acres of riparian buffers.  

  --  Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Synder County: This proposal includes the design and implementation of 100 new forested riparian buffer acres and the continuation of a farm incentives program that will help pay for new best management practices via vouchers. 

  --  Lancaster County Conservation District, Lancaster County: This project will restore a stream channel in the Conowingo Creek and protect an in-stream aquatic habitat. 

For more on today’s announcement event, please visit: https://pacast.com/m?p=26703  

For more information on EPA’s Section 319 Grant Program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/nps/319-grant-program-states-and-territories 

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