News Releases from Region 03

EPA awards $1.7 million to Virginia to control polluted runoff, restore water quality

PHILADELPHIA (Nov. 24, 2020) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a $1,693,000 grant to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to improve water quality of water bodies throughout the commonwealth.

The 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 Virginia’s water resources and ensuring communities have clean water,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “By working in partnership with Virginia, we can help implement necessary best management practices to reduce nonpoint source pollution in communities throughout the commonwealth.”

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.

Virginia will use the funding to implement watershed improvement plans that reduce nutrients, bacteria, sediment, and other pollutants from direct sources and runoff. Funding will also support restoration of waterbodies, and improvement plans to support the delisting of stream segments that are currently designated as impaired.

Learn more about successful nonpoint source reduction projects at: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/nps

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