$1M grant to help improve water quality in Nevada
A $1 million federal grant will be used to help reduce pollution and improve water quality in Nevada, official announced.
The Clean Water Act grant money from the Environmental Protection Agency will be used for 11 projects to reduce “nonpoint source pollution,” according to a release from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.
According to the EPA’s website, nonpoint pollution “is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters.” Nonpoint source pollution is the “leading remaining cause of water quality problems,” according to EPA.
NDEP’s projects in Southern and Northern Nevada will provide streambank stability restoration on rivers, build stormwater control measures to decrease roadside sediment from entering lakes and implement erosion control and stabilization measures to improve the quality of stormwater carried into rivers, according to the release.
“Several grassroots organizations want to participate in improving our water quality,” Birgit Widegren, supervisor of NDEP’s nonpoint source program, said Monday. “I’m very excited about where we’re headed.”
NDEP also plans to launch outreach initiatives to educate residents on how to reduce nonpoint source pollution from entering their water sources.
“It’s about applying lawn and garden chemicals sparingly, picking up after your dog, not disposing of household chemicals like oil and paints in your drains,” Widegren said. “These small steps can lead to big improvements.”
The 11 projects will be finished within two years, Widegren said.
Contact Mya Constantino at mconstantino@reviewjournal.com. Follow @searchingformya on Twitter.
