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Florida Receives More Than $7 Million to Protect Watersheds

Release Date: 11/18/2005
Contact Information:

November 18, 2005

Contact: Laura Niles. [email protected], Phone: (404) 562-8353

Florida Receives More Than $7 Million to Protect Watersheds

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has been awarded $7,857,300 in nonpoint source (NPS) pollution grant funds by EPA to assist state agencies and colleges, city and county governments, and local authorities in protecting and restoring Florida watersheds. This Clean Water Act grant provides funding to help make water safe for drinking, swimming, boating, and eating fish and shellfish.

This NPS pollution grant will help restore the waters in Florida that are currently affected by NPS pollution. In addition to federal funding, the project also will benefit from $6,227,867 in state and local matching funds. Specifically, FDEP will strive to restore waters by targeting priority watersheds. Projects selected for funding are determined by a competitive selection process and include construction of stormwater treatment facilities, water quality effectiveness monitoring, development of constructed wetlands, implementation of farming best management practices, streambank restoration, public education, improved management of onsite sewage systems, and monitoring and assessments in order to provide water quality data.

NPS pollution is the largest cause of water pollution in the U.S. and originates from many sources. As rainfall flows across the landscape, it gathers contaminants from the ground and accumulates additional soil and deposits it into rivers, lakes, ground water, wetlands, and coastal areas. EPA empowers states, tribes, organizations, and stakeholders to work together in order to achieve better water quality through a watershed basis.

Since the establishment of the Nonpoint Source Management Program under the Clean Water Act in 1987, EPA has provided more than $1.6 billion in federal funding alone to state, territory, and tribal partners, to protect and restore our nation’s waters. For more information about efforts to control NPS pollution in Florida, the Southeast, and around the nation, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/region4/water/nps/.