On October 7, the Department of Environmental Protection awarded $4.9 million in EPA Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grants to 23 projects that will help communities and the environment around the state by restoring impaired watersheds.

About $3 million in 2021 grant funding is available for further project grant applications. Click Here to apply.

“The Section 319 program tackles the broad challenge of nonpoint source pollution watershed by watershed,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell, “supporting partnerships and projects that adhere to data-grounded plans identifying which best practices will reduce the most pollution where, and monitoring outcomes to ensure success.”

About 95 percent of water quality impaired watersheds in Pennsylvania are polluted by nonpoint source pollution—water pollution that doesn’t come from a single specific discharge point, such as a pipe.

Section 319 Grants focus on reducing:

-- nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution associated with agricultural activities, urban stormwater, and streambank and shoreline erosion; and

-- iron, aluminum, and acidity pollution associated with energy resource extraction and acid mine drainage (AMD).

The grant program supports projects that carry out best management practices (BMPs) specified in Watershed Implementation Plans that have been developed for 36 watersheds around the state, with special consideration given to projects in Pennsylvania’s share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

It also supports development of Watershed Implementation Plans for other impaired watersheds.

Grouped by location, the following projects received 2020 Section 319 Grants:

Statewide

-- Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation: $390,000 to support the reclamation of abandoned mine sites that have a significant impact on water quality, along with developing local support for AMD remediation efforts.

-- Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation: $390,000 to support the reclamation of abandoned mine sites that have a significant impact on water quality, along with developing local support for AMD remediation efforts.

Multicounty

-- Berks County Conservation District: $130,140 to develop, in partnership with the Center for Watershed Protection, a Watershed Implementation Plan for the Upper Little Swatara Creek Watershed in Berks and Lebanon Counties. 

-- Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania: $65,405 to develop a Watershed Implementation Plan for the Buffalo Creek Watershed in Butler, Armstrong, and Allegheny Counties to guide implementation of high-impact BMPs.

Bedford County

-- Western Pennsylvania Conservancy: $86,967 to develop a Watershed Implementation Plan for Upper Evitts Creek in Cumberland Valley Township, which will include identification of critical source areas of nutrient and sediment pollution.

Bradford County

-- Bradford County Conservation District: $65,574 to help rehabilitate Johnson Creek Watershed by installing BMPs on five farms in Warren and Orwell Townships.

Bucks County

-- Bucks County Conservation District: $790,914 to implement a regional wetland stormwater BMP in Middleton Township to significantly reduce nutrient and sediment pollutant levels in the Core Creek/Lake Luxembourg Watershed. 

Cambria County

-- Clearfield Creek Watershed Association: $50,350 to design an abandoned mine drainage treatment system for the Sand Springs discharge in Gallitzin Township.

Clearfield County

-- Clearfield County Conservation District: $29,579 to develop a Watershed Implementation Plan for Morgan Run Watershed in Boggs and Decatur Townships.

Clinton County

-- Trout Unlimited: $95,595 to develop a multidisciplinary, collaborative Watershed Implementation Plan for the Bull Run/Fishing Creek Watershed in Logan and Greene Townships and Loganton Borough.

Dauphin County

-- Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation: $72,454 to complete a survey and conceptual design for the Bear Creek AMD discharges, a tributary to Wiconisco Creek in Dauphin County.

Franklin County

-- Franklin County Conservation District: $76,307 to install 20 devices along the West Branch Antietam Creek in Washington Township to protect the streambanks from further erosion and to provide fish habitat.

Indiana County

-- Indiana County Conservation District: $283,871 to reduce sediment inputs into the South Branch Plum Creek and the Leisure Run subwatershed in East Mahoning and South Mahoning townships through streambank stabilization and rotational grazing systems.

Lancaster County

-- Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay: $321,635 to complete a large stream restoration project on a dairy farm in Fulton Township, in partnership with Donegal Trout Unlimited, Lancaster County Conservation District, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

-- Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited (two projects): $159,130 to restore streambanks and stream buffers and in-stream aquatic habitat on tributaries to Fishing Creek that have been severely impacted by livestock access on two farms in Drumore Township; $57,000 to improve a tributary to Conowingo Creek in Fulton Township by stabilizing the channel, installing fish habitat structures and streambank fencing, and planting a forest buffer.

-- Lancaster County Conservation District: $206,350 for Phase 9 of the Mill Creek Stream Restoration Project, which will regrade and stabilize streambanks along the creek on two farms in Earl and Upper Leacock Townships.

Lebanon County

-- Doc Fritchey Trout Unlimited: $173,641 for design and permitting for the Snitz Creek Stream and Floodplain Restoration project in Cornwall Borough.

Luzerne County

-- Luzerne County Conservation District: $355,732 to install agricultural BMPs to reduce nutrient and sediment pollutant loads within the Frances Slocum Lake and Abraham's Creek Watershed in Franklin Township.

Mifflin County

-- Mifflin County Conservation District: $289,506 for the Upper Kishacoquillas Creek Watershed Agricultural BMP Implementation VI project, which will develop plans and install multiple BMPs at two sites in Menno Township to significantly reduce nutrient and sediment runoff.

Schuylkill County

-- Schuylkill Headwaters Association: $785,697 for phase 2 of the Otto Abandoned Mine Discharge Restoration Project in Reilly Township to effectively reduce AMD from the Otto Discharge to the Muddy Branch.

Snyder County

-- Snyder County Conservation District: $31,995 to partner with Susquehanna University to develop a Watershed Implementation Plan for the Middle Creek-Penns Creek subwatershed to address nonpoint source pollution.

Westmoreland County

-- Jacobs Creek Watershed Association: $82,468 to design an abandoned mine treatment system at the West Overton Museum.

Apply Now

DEP is accepting applications for 2021 funding until 5:00 on October 23. Incorporated watershed associations, counties, municipalities, municipal authorities, county conservation districts, councils of government, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and nonprofit organizations may apply.

Applicants can find the guidelines booklet, the link to the online grant application portal, and more information at the Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grants webpage.

Grant funds are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and authorized through Section 319(h) of the federal Water Pollution Control Act.

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 - Watershed Restoration:

-- New Poll Shows 90% Of PA Voters Want Senate, House Members To Address Environmental, Conservation Priorities, Provide More Funding For Critical Programs

-- DEP Citizens Advisory Council Meets Oct. 20 To Hear Update On PA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Cleanup Efforts

-- New Trees Are Healing North Harford Maple Farm From Abandoned Constitution Natural Gas Pipeline Clearcut In Susquehanna County

-- Stroud Center: Volunteers Help Plant Trees For Healthy Streams In Chester County

-- Lancaster Clean Water Partners: Stormwater Lunch & Learn Virtual Mini Series

-- NRCS-PA: $30 Million Available In PA To Restore, Safeguard Wetlands Ecosystems

-- NSAC: Final USDA Farm Conservation Stewardship Rule Will Harm Farmers, Set Back Conservation Efforts

-- U.S. Dept. Of Energy Awards $1.95 Million For Conceptual Designs For Rare Earth Mineral Extraction From Coal Sources, Including 4 PA Projects

-- Help Wanted: PA Assn. Of Conservation Districts Agricultural Conservation Technician

[Posted: October 7, 2020]

10/12/2020