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South Carolina Receives More Than $3 Million to Protect Watersheds

Release Date: 01/03/2006
Contact Information: Laura Niles, 404-562-8353, [email protected]

(ATLANTA – January 3, 2006) The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has been awarded $3,130,900 in nonpoint source (NPS) pollution grant funds by EPA, for fiscal year 2005, to assist state agencies and colleges, city and county governments, and local authorities in protecting and restoring South Carolina watersheds. This Clean Water Act grant provides funding to help make water safe for drinking, swimming, boating, and eating fish and shellfish. This NPS grant will be used for several projects including water quality monitoring activities. Data collected will be used to identify waters not fully meeting their intended uses, assess the effectiveness of NPS pollution prevention controls, and assist enforcement activities. Another component of this grant will be NPS outreach and education, which will provide assistance such as resources, training, rewards to encourage behavior changes, and other aid to support local water quality improvement projects. These funds will also be used to revise and create 150 state agricultural waste permits. In addition to federal funding, these projects will also benefit from $2,087,266 in state and local matching funds. NPS pollution, also known as polluted runoff, is the largest cause of water pollution in the U.S. and originates from many sources. As rainfall flows across the landscape, it accumulates contaminants on the ground and erodes exposed soil and deposits it into rivers, lakes, ground water, wetlands, and coastal areas. EPA empowers states, tribes, organizations, and stakeholders to work together in order to achieve better water quality through a watershed basis. Since the establishment of the Nonpoint Source Management Program under the Clean Water Act in 1987, EPA has provided to state, territory, and tribal partners more than $1.6 billion in federal funding to protect and restore our nation’s waters. For more information about efforts to control NPS pollution in South Carolina, the Southeast, and around the nation, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/region4/water/nps/ .