Virginia DEQ Awards $20 Million in Stormwater Grants
DEQ Director David Paylor said the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund matching grants "help communities install effective and efficient pollution control measures, such as stream restorations, constructed wetlands, and methods to filter rainwater before it washes pollution into waterways."
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality announced April 15 that it has awarded $20 million from this year's Stormwater Local Assistance Fund to 15 localities across the state. DEQ manages the program, which provides matching grants to localities for improvement projects that implement cost-effective best management practices. This year's awards will support 24 projects to reduce water pollution.
These grants are the fifth round of SLAF funding, which the Virginia General Assembly established in 2013. DEQ received 59 applications from 34 localities this year for projects totaling more than $39 million.
The grants for this fifth round range from $82,000 up to $4 million. To date, more than $80 million in SLAF funding has been awarded to support 193 stormwater improvement projects.
"This stormwater funding is vital to assist our partners in local government to improve their streams and the health of the Chesapeake Bay,” said Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew J. Strickler. "As the commonwealth prepared its new plan for a cleaner Chesapeake Bay, the Phase 3 Watershed Implementation Plan, we heard clearly from local governments that this funding support is essential to meeting our comprehensive goals."
"Under heavy rainfall, many conventional stormwater drainage systems may be overwhelmed and route runoff to streams and rivers," said DEQ Director David Paylor. "This increases pollution and results in degradation over time. SLAF funding provides matching grants to help communities install effective and efficient pollution control measures, such as stream restorations, constructed wetlands, and methods to filter rainwater before it washes pollution into waterways."