The Christina Basin Clean Water Partnership celebrated the completion of a three-year program to improve water quality in the Brandywine, Red Clay, White Clay and Christina watersheds with an awards ceremony this week at the Red Clay Room in Kennett Square.

The Christina Basin received a $1 million Targeted Watershed Initiative Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2003 and was the top ranked application in the United States, besting 170 other watershed applications. The grant was used to improve water quality through urban, agricultural and backyard programs in both Chester County, Pennsylvania and New Castle County, Delaware.

The awards ceremony included presentations on the results of the watershed grant and the improvements that were implemented throughout the Basin. The Chester County Conservation District, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and Delaware Nature Society will highlight these improvements.

To acknowledge the partnership of landowners in making the improvements successful, the Christina Basin Clean Water Partnership honored six property owners who were involved in separate projects throughout the Basin.

U.S. Congressmen Joe Pitts and Jim Gerlach from Pennsylvania and Mike Castle from Delaware were on hand to present the recipients with their awards. Also in attendance was Deputy Secretary Cathy Curran Myers from the Department of Environmental Protection and Deputy Secretary David Small from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

The Christina Basin is important historically for its settlement in 1638 by the Swedes and later as the site of the Battle of the Brandywine in 1777 and the DuPont Powder Mills in 1802. The Basin’s streams and wells provide up to 100 million gallons of water daily to over half a million people.

The value of the water resources in the Christina Basin which includes both Pennsylvania and Delaware, is estimated at $100 million annually. In addition, the Basin has a growing ecotourism industry, has inspired the Brandywine School of Art, and is home to the first small watershed association in America.

For more information, visit the Christina Basin Clean Water Partnership webpage.

2/29/2008