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Iowa State University Selected to Receive $600,000 in Grants to Reduce Upstream Pollution Impacting Gulf of Mexico

Release Date: 12/12/2008
Contact Information: Whitley, (913) 551-7394, whitley.christopher@epa.gov

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Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., Dec. 12, 2008) - Iowa State University has been selected to receive $600,000 in grants from EPA's Targeted Watersheds Grant Program to reduce upstream pollutants that contribute to an oxygen-depleted hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

Iowa State's three proposals for watershed projects will support agricultural conservation measures and create a variety of innovative, market-based programs to reduce water pollution.

"Protecting our nation's watersheds is a top priority for EPA," said EPA Region 7 Administrator John B. Askew. "Through this national program, Iowa State joins nine other organizations selected to receive more than $3.7 million to improve water quality."

The university's projects are intended to improve water quality through strategies aimed at reducing the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that ultimately reach the Gulf of Mexico. The selected projects will focus on the Raccoon River, Walnut Creek and Boone River watersheds.

EPA initiated the Targeted Watersheds Grant Program in 2002 to encourage successful community-based approaches to protect and restore the nation's watersheds. Watershed health is important to providing clean, safe water where Americans live, work and play. To date, more than $55 million has been provided through the Targeted Watershed Grants Program.

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Learn more about the Targeted Watersheds Grant Program

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