On September 30, Lancaster Clean Water Partners announced the award of $128,000 in grants to support four local projects implementing the Lancaster Countywide Clean Water Plan.

Funding for the projects comes from the Lancaster Clean Water Fund, funded through several partner organizations and charitable foundations, serves as a catalyst for increased collaboration to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of current and future clean water projects.

The projects funded include--

-- Conservation Practice Implementation In Salisbury Township: Salisbury Township was awarded funding to install BMPs to address nutrient and sediment reductions on two plain sect farms at the Pequea Creek headwaters. Barnyard runoff and stream protection – the top two agricultural conservation needs in Salisbury Township – are the main focus of these two projects.

These projects will also provide valuable learning and demonstration opportunities to address the barrier to conservation practices among plain sect farms.

“Cleaning Lancaster’s streams requires a commitment from landowners to make improvements that will improve water quality and a package of funding to make it possible,” says John Williamson, TeamAg, Inc. “We assisted Salisbury Township in obtaining a NFWF grant for two farms for fencing, stream crossings, and improved manure management structures. When this grant didn’t cover the entire project, we turned to the Lancaster Clean Water Fund. These projects will be built within a year, and will help these farms improve their economic and environmental performance.”

-- Peters Creek Restoration: Donegal Trout Unlimited (DTU) was awarded funding to restore a section of Peters Creek in southern Lancaster County. Restoration efforts, including stream and floodplain restoration and riparian buffer plantings, will reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollutants.

Upon project completion, the stream will be used as a conservation laboratory. DTU will partner with Excelon to provide environmental and conservation education to the community through eco-tours for teachers, students, and volunteers, and provide information at the Muddy Run Visitor Center and Conowingo Visitor Center.

“DTU is especially pleased to work with Exelon for the third time on a stream restoration project on Peters Creek, a unique watershed containing native brown trout and the endangered logperch,” says Bob Kutz, conservation co-chair with DTU. “This final stretch of stream, which runs from Peach Bottom Road to the marina on the Susquehanna, will become a model used as a conservation laboratory by teachers, students and volunteers interested in coldwater stream restoration.”

-- Stormwater Management Education for Pre-Service Student Teachers: Millersville University Watershed Education Training Institute (WETi) has been awarded funds to provide pre-service student teachers with a meaningful watershed education experience, focusing on issues that impact local watersheds.

As part of the project, students will have formal classroom instruction, site visits to impaired streams, and discussions with organizations about failed and successful conservation projects.

This project will unite students from different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds, and provide them with the knowledge and tools to share with their future K-12 students so they too  can protect our waterways and diverse aquatic ecosystems for generations to come.

“We’re very excited to receive this grant from the Partners,” says John Wallace, professor at Millersville University and project coordinator. “The grant will fund a novel, multi-scaled approach to train our pre-service student teachers to participate in a national certification stormwater management program, visit stormwater BMPs in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and experience the construction of a stormwater rain garden at MU WETi – all with the objective of disseminating this information across geographic and socio-economic boundaries for future generations to strive for the improvement of clean waters through effective stormwater management strategies.”

-- Willow Street Park Rain Garden Installation: West Lampeter Township has been awarded funding to install a bioretention rain garden in the Willow Street Township Park.

 Currently a 15.5 acre tributary drainage area of untreated, urbanized area within the Mill Creek watershed flows through the park carrying pollutants, sediment, asphalt oils, and debris into downstream infrastructure. The project will remedy this by installing a rain garden with 18″ of amended soil media and native plants.

The rain garden installation provides a valuable opportunity to educate the public while providing an aesthetically pleasing and naturalistic example of the benefits that rain gardens provide.

“West Lampeter Township is honored to have received this grant funding from the Clean Water Fund and excited to break ground on this project,” says Amanda Hickman, community development director at West Lampeter Township. “This rain garden project not only compliments our recreational facilities but serves as a catalyst for the long term integration of our public education and conservation strategies moving forward.”

Other Updates

In other updates from the Lancaster Clean Water Partners--

-- Vegetated Swale Installation In Paradise Township

-- Scholar Spotlight: Wyatt Behringer

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and how you can get involved, visit the Lancaster Clean Water Partners website.  Contact Allyson Ladley Gibson for more information at 717-368-4831 or send an email to: agibson@lancastercleanwaterpartners.com.

PA Chesapeake Bay Plan

For more information on how Pennsylvania plans to meet its Chesapeake Bay cleanup obligations, visit DEP’s PA’s Phase 3 Watershed Implementation Plan webpage.   

Click Here for a summary of the steps the Plan recommends.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

DEP’s Interactive Report Viewer allows you to zoom in on your own stream or watershed to find out how clean your stream is or if it has impaired water quality using the latest information in the draft 2020 Water Quality Report.

Related Articles This Week:

-- DCNR Invests $2.85 Million In 22 Rivers Conservation, Boating, Fishing Access, Streamside Buffers Projects

-- U.S. House Passes Bill To Reauthorize Chesapeake Bay, Wildlife Programs, Bill Now On President’s Desk

-- EPA, Agriculture Formalize Joint Support For Healthy Farms, Clean Water, Future Food Security At Lancaster County Farm

-- CBF Offering 6 Live Online Classes To Empower Volunteer VoiCeS In PA To Advocate For Clean Water

-- Chesapeake Bay Foundation Launches Live Online Environmental Education Program-- OWL

-- CBF Oct. 7 Webinar: How To Ditch Fertilizers, Weed Killers And Make Your Lawn Environmentally Friendly

-- Pike Conservation District Holds Virtual Road Maintenance Workshop Oct. 28

-- Audubon Society Of Western PA Hosts Online Buffalo Creek Watershed Riparian Buffer Workshops With Free Trees In Armstrong, Butler Counties

-- Harvesting Vegetation From Multi-Function Riparian Buffers Barely Reduces Water Quality Benefits

-- Bucknell University 15th Annual River Symposium Call For Presentation Proposals

-- 2021 Delaware Estuary Science & Environmental Summit Call For Presentation Proposals

-- U.S.G.S. Pennsylvania Water Science Center Upgrades StreamStats Information

-- Brodhead Watershed Assn. Welcomes Kelly Gallo As New Executive Director

[Posted: Sept. 30, 2020]

10/5/2020