The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that 37 nationwide organizations will be awarded a total of $2.1 million in federal funding to “help protect and restore urban waters, improve water quality, and support community revitalization”. 6 of these 37 organizations are in the Philadelphia, Chester, and Wilmington, Del. areas of the Delaware River Basin.
The EPA’s Urban Waters program is funding the award. The program is designed to “support communities in their efforts to access, improve and benefit from their urban waters and the surrounding land”. The Urban Waters Federal Partnership is made up of 13 federal agencies that work to improve coordination between agencies and community-led revitalization efforts by reconnecting urban communities with their waterways. The Partnership was expanded last year to include the Delaware River Basin.
The six projects in the Delaware River Basin will receive nearly $320,000. All funded projects in the Urban Waters program must “work to advance environmental justice in their communities and focus on one of the following three categories: community greening and green infrastructure, communities and water quality data, and integration of water quality and community development in planning”.
The six organizations receiving the funds include the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (Chester), the Schuykill River Development Corporation (Philadelphia), Temple University – Of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education (Philadelphia), Villanova University (Delaware County), Clean Air Council (Wilmington, Del.), and Wilderness Inquiry, Inc. (Chester, Philadelphia, Camden, & Wilmington, Del.).
“Thanks to the hard work of these six organizations and the merit of their projects, no area in the country is receiving more of this year’s Urban Waters Grants than the Delaware River Basin,” said Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “We’re particularly proud that all of the Delaware River Basin projects promote achieving environmental justice and focus on managing stormwater through green infrastructure and community planning”.