New York, New Jersy water quality improvement efforts get EPA funding assist

The Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded nearly $110,000 to two organizations in New York and New Jersey for projects to improve the water quality in their local communities.

The nonprofit NY/NJ Baykeeper will use its $48,150 grant to expand an ongoing project that aims to reduce plastic pollution in the lower Passaic River watershed and Newark Bay area. In partnership with the Ironbound Community Corporation and student interns, NY/NJ Baykeeper will work to identify and reduce that plastic pollution, as well as produce short videos to encourage local communities to prevent pollution.

Sarah Lawrence College in New York won a $60,000 grant that will go toward investigating the severity and sources of water pollution in the Hudson River valley area. The organization will work in partnership with several watershed groups to increase engagement in communities throughout the area.

"Plastic pollution threatens most of our urban waterways and NY/NJ Baykeeper will take steps to reduce that threat in the already beleaguered Passaic River,” EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said. "The research to be conducted in the lower Hudson River by Sarah Lawrence students will provide new information on local sources of pollution that threaten the Hudson River.”

The funding is part of 22 grants recently announced Urban Waters Small Grants Program.