News Releases from Region 03

EPA awards $1 million to the District of Columbia to control polluted runoff, restore water quality

PHILADELPHIA (Dec. 17, 2020) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a $1,024,000 grant to the District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment to improve water quality in rivers and streams throughout the District.

This grant is part of EPA's Nonpoint Source Implementation Grant Program, as outlined in Section 319 of the Clean Water Act to control water pollution.

“This grant supports preserving and protecting the District of Columbia’s water resources and ensuring communities have clean water,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “By working in partnership with the District, we can help implement necessary best management practices to reduce nonpoint source pollution in communities throughout the District.”

Nonpoint source pollution is caused when rainfall or snowmelt, moving over and through the ground, picks up and carries natural and human-made pollutants, depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and groundwater.

Controlling nonpoint source pollution is especially important since one in three Americans get their drinking water from public systems that rely on seasonal and rain-dependent streams.

Funding will support projects and best management practices in the areas of conservation planning, nutrient management, nutrient load reductions, watershed plan implementation, and restoration of streams and wetlands. This will include improvements to Alger Park, a project that used regenerative stream restoration techniques and added more than half an acre of wetlands to the stream corridor. 

Learn more about successful nonpoint source reduction projects at: https://www.epa.govhttps://www.epa.gov/nps

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