Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Wins EPA Grant
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Awarded a $50,000.00 grant to the Upper Chattahoocheee Riverkeeper to expand Atlanta Neighborhood Water Watch, as part of the EPA’s Urban Waters Program. Susan Mittleman has more.
The Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is a non-profit, environmental, advocacy organization, whose mission is to protect and restore the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries.
It is one of just five recipients in the southeast to receive the EPA grant to help restore urban waters and support community revitalization. ‘Urban waters’ can be anything from canals and rivers, to lakes and oceans, in urbanized areas. Executive Director Sally Bethea says the grant will help to train and assist local residents to monitor the quality of the creeks in their communities.
“This is so huge for us to get this support from the federal government, from the EPA to help citizens resolve pollution issues in their own backyards. This is going to help us resolve pollution problems and connect people with the natural world in an important, science, based way.”
The $50,000.00 award will go toward engaging residents in Atlanta’s southwest community of Proctor Creek, a tributary to the Chattahoochee River.
EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, Nancy Stone, says urban waters are brimming with potential.
“These are opportunities not just to bring communities together, but also to revitalize urban economies.”
The Chattahoochee River is the most heavily used waterway in Georgia and was recently named by American Rivers as one of the most endangered waterways in the country.
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