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EPA Awards Over $119,000 to Support Revitalization of Urban Waters in California

Release Date: 06/26/2012
Contact Information: Nahal Mogharabi, mogharabi.nahal@epa.gov

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded a total of over $119,000 in funds split between two California projects to help restore urban waters, support community revitalization and protect community health.

“Urban waters especially have been degraded by habitat lost, stormwater runoff and trash,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Protecting California's rivers and creeks allows city residents to enjoy the environmental and recreational benefits from their local waters and surrounding lands.”

The $2.7 million in funding is part of EPA’s Urban Waters program with grants ranging from $30,000 to $60,000 to 46 organizations in 32 states and Puerto Rico. The projects will promote the restoration of urban waters through community engagement and outreach, water quality monitoring and studies, and environmental education and training.

The Southern and Northern California projects and their funding amounts are:

Council for Watershed Health, Los Angeles, CA - $59,925 - Through local outreach, the Council will develop a Los Angeles River Watershed assessment framework and then disseminate the results to the community via an annual report card. The Council for Watershed Health will work with partners in the Los Angeles River Watershed Urban Waters pilot project and other local stakeholders to identify watershed management goals and report the results to the community.

Friends of Marsh Creek, Brentwood, CA - $60,000 - The overall goal of this project is to restore water quality in the Marsh Creek Watershed through increasing understanding and awareness of water quality issues and advancing restoration and stewardship through the collection of water quality data, identifying sources of pollution, and developing solutions The project will engage stakeholders through education, outreach, and hands-on training's to ensure ongoing pollution prevention and water quality and ecosystem improvements.

Urban waters can be canals, rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, estuaries, bays and oceans in urbanized areas. Many urban waterways have been polluted for years by sewage, runoff from city streets and contamination from abandoned industrial facilities. Healthy and accessible urban waters can help grow local businesses and enhance educational, recreational, employment and social opportunities in nearby communities. By promoting public access to urban waterways, EPA will help communities become active participants in restoring urban waters while improving and protecting their neighborhoods.

EPA’s Urban Waters program supports the goals and principles of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership, a partnership of 12 federal agencies working to reconnect urban communities with their waterways.
The partnership closely aligns with and advances the work of the White House’s place‐based efforts, including the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, to revitalize communities, create jobs and improve the quality of life in cities and towns across the nation. The Urban Waters Federal Partnership also advances the work of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative.

To view a list of the grant recipients, visit https://www.epa.gov/urbanwaters/funding
Information on EPA’s Urban Waters program: https://www.epa.gov/urbanwaters/index.html
Information on the Urban Waters Federal Partnership: http://urbanwaters.gov/

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