U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

 

Finalists for Grants to Improve the  Gulf of Mexico

 

Contact: Enesta Jones, (202) 564-4355/7873 / [log in to unmask]

 

( Washington ,  D.C. - Dec. 12, 2008) A total of $3.7 million is available to help selected organizations reduce pollutants that contribute to the oxygen-depleted zone in the northern  Gulf of Mexico . The 10 finalists will support agricultural conservation measures, restore wetlands and riverbanks, monitor water quality, and create a variety of innovative, market-based programs to improve water quality.

 

"This seed money will grow innovative, cost-effective solutions to speed up the cleanup of impaired watersheds in the Mississippi River Watershed and cut the size of the Dead Zone in the  Gulf of Mexico ,” said Benjamin H. Grumbles, EPA’s assistant administrator for water.

 

These projects under the EPA’s Targeted Watersheds Grants Program will reduce the sources of pollutants, including runoff from developed land, soil erosion, agricultural fertilizers, and sewage and industrial discharges. Parts or all of 31 states drain into the watershed that flows into the  Gulf of Mexico .

 

The organizations are:

 

• Conservation Technology and  Information  Center ( West Lafayette ,  Ind. ) for the  Wabash  River Watershed
• Electric Power Research Institute ( Palo Alto ,  Calif. ) for the  Ohio  River Basin
• Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa) for the Raccoon River Watershed, Walnut Creek Watershed, and Boone River Watershed
• The Miami Conservancy District ( Dayton ,  Ohio ) for the  Great Miami River Watershed
• The Nature Conservancy ( Nashville ,  Tenn. ) for the  Lower  Hatchie  River Watershed,  Loosahatchie River Watershed, and  Wolf  River Watershed
• The  Ohio  State  University ( Columbus ,  Ohio ) for the  Upper Scioto Watershed
• The Wetlands Initiative ( Chicago ) for the Lower Illinois River-Lake Senachwine Watershed
• University of  Kentucky ( Lexington ,  Ky. ) for the Green River Watershed and  Kentucky River Watershed
• West Virginia  University ( Morgantown , W.  Va. ) for the  Kanawha  River Watershed
• World Resource Institute (Washington, D.C.) for the Ohio River Basin, Upper Mississippi River Basin and Lower Mississippi River Basin

 

Since its establishment in 2002, EPA’s Targeted Watersheds Grant Program has encouraged successful community-based approaches to protect and restore the nation's watersheds. Watershed health is important to providing clean, safe water where Americans live, work and play. To date, more than $55 million has been provided through targeted watersheds grants.

 

More information on EPA’s Targeted Watersheds Grant Program:

http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/trading/twg/

 

More information on the  Gulf of Mexico : http://www.epa.gov/msbasin/

 

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