Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection awards $3.1M in clean water projects in 8 counties

From the State Dept. of Environmental Protection

Harrisburg — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has awarded $3,118,174 in Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grants to eight projects across Pennsylvania focused on improving water quality and restoring impaired watersheds.

“Clean water is vital to community health and a fundamental right of every Pennsylvanian,” said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “These projects are examples of good stewardship and best practices to create healthier streams and wetlands, reduce flood risk, and improve fish and wildlife habitat.”

The Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grant program, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and selected by DEP, supports projects that carry out best management practices specified in Watershed Implementation Plans for 44 watersheds around the state, with special consideration for projects in Pennsylvania’s share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

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Nonpoint source pollution is water pollution that doesn’t come from a single specific discharge point, such as a pipe from a factory, but rather from diffuse sources, such as stormwater runoff, mine drainage, and farm fields.

Around 53% of the water-quality-impaired watersheds in Pennsylvania are affected by nonpoint source pollution. Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grants focus on reducing:

Nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution from agricultural activities, urban stormwater runoff, and streambank and shoreline erosion; and iron, aluminum, and acidity pollution associated with energy resource extraction and acid mine drainage.

Projects in the following counties received Section 319 Grant awards:

Berks County

Berks County Conservation District received $317,872 for the Upper Little Swatara Creek WIP Implementation project to do streambank restoration on Crosskill Creek and install agricultural BMPs on an unnamed tributary to Little Swatara Creek with Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission and USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service.

The Berks County Conservation District will implement a multi year water quality monitoring program to determine and evaluate WIP progress.

The estimated load reductions are 2,215 lbs./yr. of nitrogen, 5,901 lbs./yr. of phosphorus and 223 tons/yr. of sediment.

Columbia County

Columbia County Conservation District received $148,726 for the Catawissa WIP Revision project to update the Catawissa Creek WIP originally completed in 2007.

The WIP revision will include Columbia and Schuylkill counties and provide comprehensive and up-to-date information on water quality data, land use, remediation priorities, land reclamation efforts, pollutant load reductions, and construction of AMD treatment facilities.

Dauphin County

Tri-County Conewago Creek Association received $899,721 for the 2025 Conewago Creek Restoration Projects implement two priority stream restoration projects in the Conewago Creek watershed: 1st Unnamed Tributary North and Brills Run.

The project will fund other stream restoration and agricultural BMPs in the watershed as willing landowners are identified through the Conewago Creek Initiative, a partnership of watershed stakeholders.

The estimated pollutant load reductions are 3,853 lbs./yr. of nitrogen, 801 lbs./yr. of phosphorus, and 371 tons/yr. of sediment.

Indiana County

Indiana County Conservation District received $254,758 for the South Branch of Plum Creek WIP Revision project to revise the 2008 South Branch Plum Creek WIP by assessing water quality impairments.

The assessment will guide the efforts to restore the watershed by locating the sources and causes of impairments and identifying and prioritizing BMP projects.

Lancaster County

Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited received $557,770 for the Woe, Miller, Young, and Stoltzfus Restoration project to construct three planned and permitted restoration sites and make minor repairs to instream structures. All four sites are included in the Conowingo Creek WIP. The estimated pollutant load reductions are 625 lbs./yr. of nitrogen, 570 lbs./yr. of phosphorous, and 188 tons/yr. of sediment.

Lebanon County

The Doc Fritchey Chapter of Trout Unlimited received $457,727 for the Snitz Creek 3 – Stream & Floodplain Restoration project to stabilize 1,000 linear feet of unstable stream channel, reconnect to the adjacent floodplain, and establish 1.0 acre of riparian buffer along with 1.2 acre of wet meadow.

The project will reduce pollutant loads to Snitz Creek from streambank erosion by approximately 75 lbs./yr. for nitrogen, 68 lbs./yr. for phosphorus and 22 tons/yr. for sediment.

Luzerne County

Eastern Pa. Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation received $260,000 for the Conservation District Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program-East project to provide support in the mining-impacted watersheds of northeast and northcentral Pennsylvania to redevelop and reclaim abandoned mine lands, technical assistance, geographic information system mapping, 3D underground mine mapping, analysis and interpretation of anthracite and bituminous region mine maps, grant writing, grant management, education and outreach programs, community development, project coordination, and project management.

Schuylkill County

Schuylkill Conservation District received $221,600 for the Pine Forest Shaft Abandoned Mine Drainage Treatment System Design project to collect updated stream flow, water quality data, and develop a final treatment system design and complete permitting for the Pine Forest Shaft AMD discharge.