DRBC Helps Announce Grants for Water Quality Improvement Projects in the Schuylkill Watershed

DRBC Executive Director Steve Tambini and staff participated in the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund (SRRF) awards ceremony on September 17, 2014, which announced the distribution of over $330,000 to various water quality improvement projects throughout the Schuylkill River Watershed. The ceremony took place at the Cook Wissahickon School, Philadelphia, Pa., which was awarded SRRF grant monies in 2012 to convert part of its school grounds to a native meadow that would help reduce stormwater runoff from the school property and enhance the habitats of nearby Fairmount Park. The school was also one of the 2014 grant recipients, the funding of which will go towards building a second phase of the meadow project to further enhance stormwater management on the school’s property. 

The $337,465 distributed from the SRRF in 2014 will directly support six projects and one land transaction grant, all of which will improve the water quality in the Schuylkill River and its tributaries, a source of drinking water for 1.5 million people. The funded projects will mitigate stormwater runoff and agricultural pollution, while the land transaction grant will assist with costs associated with permanent protection of priority watershed parcels.

Award ceremony speakers included Mr. Tambini, along with Schuylkill River Heritage Area’s Executive Director Kurt Zwikl, Philadelphia Water Department’s Kelly Anderson, Exelon Generation Limerick Generating Station’s Chris Gerdes, and Cook Wissahickon School’s Principal Melanie Lewan. Teachers Diane Powers and Jose Ramos and students from Cook Wissahickon, who helped create the native meadow, also provided remarks. The school’s project has also drawn strong support from the Wissahickon Sustainability Council, a community group.

Contributors to the SRRF in 2014 included Exelon Corporation, the Philadelphia Water Department, Aqua PA, and MOM’s Organic Market. Administered by the Schuylkill River Heritage Area (SRHA), the SRRF was initiated nine years ago with funds from Exelon Corporation, which has participated every year. To date, the SRRF has awarded over $2 million to 62 projects that help reduce pollution entering the Schuylkill River and its tributaries. DRBC approves the projects that are selected for funding using the Exelon funds and is one of several entities that sits on an advisory committee that chooses which projects get funded annually.

• Click here to view the SRHA press release “Schuylkill River Heritage Area Awards Grants to Improve Water Quality.”
• For additional information on the creation of the SRRF, how it’s managed, and its contributors, please click on the link in the “More Information” box.
• To learn more about SRHA and their administration of the SRRF, please click on the SRHA link in the “More Information” box.