ADEQ Offering Water Quality Improvement Grants

ADEQ Director Steve Owens announced that the ADEQ is accepting Water Quality Improvement Grant applications in order to allocate $1.5 million for projects that improve water quality throughout Arizona.

Each year ADEQ allocates funding to public & private entities in Arizona through its Water Quality Improvement Grant Program. The funds are provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Clean Water Act.

Each applicant must provide 40% in nonfederal matching funds to implement an "on-the-ground" project to improve & protect water quality in Arizona by addressing a nonpoint source of water pollution.

Nonpoint source pollution is the nation's largest source of water quality problems. It occurs when rainfall, melting snow, or irrigation runoff picks up pollutants & deposits them in rivers, lakes or other ground water sources. Agriculture, forestry, grazing, septic systems, recreational boating, urban runoff & construction all contribute to nonpoint source pollution.

The Grant Manual and application forms can be downloaded from ADEQ's Water Quality Improvement Grant Program site at, azdeq.gov/environ/water/watershed.

A series of workshops will be held around the state to help those interested applying for a grant learn more about the Water Quality Improvement Grant Program:

Route 66
Street
400 W. Congress

Creeks
119 Grove Avenue
921 Thatcher Boulevard

For questions or to RSVP to the grant workshops, contact Rebecca Followill, Grant Coordinator, at followill.rebecca@azdeq.gov, or (602) 771-4635, (800) 234-5677, Ext. 771-4635.