County Gets Growing Greener Grant to Reduce Water Pollution

The Centre County Conservation District has received a $1.6 million grant to help protect area waterways.

The grant was announced on Dec. 18 by Gov. Tom Wolf’s office. It provides funding to implement stream restoration and construct riparian buffers at 10 sites in Centre County. 

The county will use the money for four stream stabilization projects and six agriculture best management practice projects, said John Wataha, agricultural conservation tech for Centre County.

The projects will take place in Boggs, College, Curtin, Haines, Halfmoon, Patton, Tayor, Walker and Union townships and will include work on Halfmoon, Slab Cabin Run, Little Fishing Creek, Marsh Creek, Bald Eagle Creek, Sinking Creek and Elk Creek watersheds.

The projects are designed to limit and reverse the effects of agriculture on these area streams that eventually flow into the Susquehanna River. The projects will begin in 2019 and will take place over the next three years, with plans to finish a third of the projects each year. 

This 2019 Growing Greener grant, through the Department of Environmental Protection, will be used to establish 23.4 acres of forest buffers and protect 8,000 linear feet of stream bank. These improvements will reduce pollution into the Susquehanna watershed, eliminating an estimated 418 tons of sediment and more than 13,000 pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution annually.

“Planting trees and other buffers between agricultural fields and waterways is one of the best ways to reduce runoff pollution,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell in a press release. “These practices pay dividends downstream as well, with better water quality and fish habitat.”

The Growing Greener projects have been used to help clean up abandoned mine lands, preserve farmland, and protect and restore watersheds throughout the state. 

The Growing Greener grant program is supported by the Environmental Stewardship Fund, which receives its funding from landfill tipping fees.