The investments will support a range of projects to reduce pollution and restore Pennsylvania’s waterways — from treating abandoned mine drainage and restoring streams and floodplains to planting riparian buffers and improving wildlife habitat.
“Clean water is vital to community health and a fundamental right of every Pennsylvanian,” said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “These projects are examples of good stewardship and best practices to create healthier streams and wetlands, reduce flood risk, and improve fish and wildlife habitat.”
The Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grant program, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and selected by DEP, supports projects that carry out best management practices (BMPs) specified in Watershed Implementation Plans (WIP) for 45 watersheds around the state, with special consideration for projects in Pennsylvania’s share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
The program also supports development of new WIPs for additional impaired watersheds.
Nonpoint source pollution is water pollution that doesn’t come from a single specific discharge point, such as a pipe from a factory, but rather from diffuse sources, such as stormwater runoff, mine drainage, and farm fields.
Around 55 percent of the water-quality-impaired watersheds in Pennsylvania are affected by nonpoint source pollution, according to Pennsylvania’s 2026 Integrated Water Quality Report.
Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grants focus on reducing:
-- Nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution from agricultural activities, urban stormwater runoff, and streambank and shoreline erosion; and
-- Iron, aluminum, and acidity pollution associated with energy resource extraction and acid mine drainage (AMD).
Projects in the following counties received Section 319 Grant awards:
Statewide
-- Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (WPCAMR) received $227,500 for the Conservation District Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program-West to support the reclamation of abandoned mine sites that have a significant impact on water quality and to develop local support for AMD remediation efforts.
It is also designed to help promote and establish the use of watershed management techniques and watershed implementation plans as the basis for achieving water quality improvements in watersheds impacted by abandoned mine drainage and to advise and educate the general public on reclamation needs and issues.
Bucks County
-- Bucks County Conservation District received $161,325 for the Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) Revision: North Branch Neshaminy & Lake Galena project to update and revise the North Branch Neshaminy-Lake Galena WIP and submitting the revision to EPA for approval.
The revised WIP will serve as a complete update to the existing plan to allow for planning of future projects utilizing the most current data and conditions of the watershed.
This project also involves habitat restoration of riparian areas adjacent to Lake Galena where up to ten acres of turfgrass lawn will be converted to a mix of upland woodland and meadow habitat to support water quality and biodiversity in the watershed.
Cambria County
-- Clearfield Creek Watershed Association received $347,832 for the Beldin Construction 25A project to complete the final construction design, obtain permits, and construct an acid mine drainage passive treatment system for the Beldin Mine discharge on Little Laurel Run. When constructed, the treatment system will remove approximately 14 pounds of iron and 42 pounds of acidity daily from Little Laurel Run and Clearfield Creek.
Clearfield County
-- Clearfield County Conservation District received $790,612 for the Morgan Run State Game Lands 98 AMD Treatment Construction Phase 1 to design, permit, and construct Phase 1 of the Morgan Run State Game Lands 98 (MRSGL98) discharge treatment.
The recipient will develop shovel ready construction plans for the North and South Treatment Systems, secure the necessary permits for construction of the North and South Treatment Systems, and construct the South Treatment Systems.
The South Treatment Systems consist of two passive systems utilizing two drainable limestone beds, four manganese removal beds, two flush ponds, and one treatment wetland.
The South Treatment Systems are designed to remove 8.9 pounds per day of iron, 13 pounds per day of aluminum, 32.3 pounds per day of manganese, and 270.8 pounds per day of acidity.
Treatment of the MRSGL98 discharge area is the final project needed to achieve the necessary pollutant load reductions at the mouth of Morgan Run.
Lancaster County
-- Lancaster County Conservation District received $171,050 for the Lancaster WIP Partnership Implementation project to support the construction of two 1,000 linear foot stream restoration projects that will include a total of: 3.5 acres of riparian buffers, 4,000 linear feet of streambank fencing, and two stream crossings in either the Conowingo, Conewago, Mill, or Fishing Creek watersheds in Lancaster County.
This project will also support the design and permitting for five projects (yet to be identified) in these watersheds.
The estimated pollutant load reductions that would result from the two 1,000 linear feet stream restoration projects are 817 pounds per year of phosphorus, 4,135 pounds per year of nitrogen, and 403 tons per year of sediment.
-- Lancaster County Conservation District received $281,570 for the Connecting Projects and Restoring the Pequea: Big Beaver and Calamus Restoration project to implement the restoration of approximately 3,290 linear feet of the Big Beaver Creek and Calamus Run, tributaries to Pequea Creek in Lancaster County, through stream stabilization BMPs, the installation of 2,500 feet of streambank fencing, one stream crossing, and planting 3.6 acres of riparian buffer.
This project will result in the estimated reduction of 288 tons per year of sediment, 4,291 pounds per year of nitrogen, and 715 pounds per year of phosphorus.
-- Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited received $650,000 for the Ben Stoltzfus Restoration Project to implement the first phase of stream stabilization BMPs on approximately 4,600 feet of stream in the Conowingo Creek watershed, Lancaster County. Estimated pollutant load reductions for all phases of the project, once implemented, are calculated to be 345 pounds per year of nitrogen, 312.8 pounds per year of phosphorus, and 103 tons per year of sediment.
Upon completion of all phases, the project will have established 8.1 acres of forested buffer, installed stream bank fencing, and constructed 174 steam stabilization and restoration Best Management Practices (BMPs) including rock cross vanes, mudsills, floodplain bench areas, oxbow wetlands, rock deflectors, and more.
York County
-- Watershed Alliance of York received $190,500 for the South Branch Codorus Creek at Reynolds Mill Road Floodplain Restoration Design and Permitting project to design and permit the restoration of approximately 2,000 linear feet of stream and its floodplain, remove 40,000 cubic yards of legacy sediment, and establish a four-acre riparian buffer on the South Branch Codorus Creek.
The project will result in the estimated reduction of 1,390.5 tons of sediment, 2,606 pounds of nitrogen, and 895.1 pounds of phosphorus from potentially entering the creek in the future.
The goals of this project are to create a stable and ecologically diverse stream, reduce sediment and nutrients entering the stream, improve aquatic life through the removal of legacy sediment, reconnect the stream to its historic floodplain, and install streambank stabilization practices.
Visit the DEP’s Section 319 Watershed Restoration Grants webpage to learn more about this program. The next grant round is anticipated to open for applications in Spring 2027.
Click Here for the DEP announcement.
For more information on environmental programs in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s website. Submit Environmental Complaints; Click Here to sign up for DEP’s newsletter; sign up for DEP’s eNotice; Like DEP on Facebook, Follow DEP on Twitter and visit DEP’s YouTube Channel.
Related Articles This Week:
-- DEP Invests $2.8 Million In Federal Funds To Support 8 Local Projects To Protect Clean Water, Restore The Health Of Local Watersheds [PaEN]
-- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Increasing Funding For Regenerative Pilot Program To Pay For On-Farm Conservation Systems [PaEN]
-- TreePennsylvania Starts Accepting Applications For Bare Root Tree Grants Oct. 12; Applicant Webinar Oct. 26 [PaEN]
-- Delaware River Basin Commission Releases Surface Water Availability Report For Select Tributaries; Results Will Be Reviewed At Oct. 14 Water Advisory Committee Meeting [PaEN]
-- Delaware Highlands Conservancy Announces Photo Contest Winners; Exhibition Opens At ARTery Gallery Nov. 14 In Milford, Pike County [PaEN]
NewsClip:
-- Capital&Main - Audrey Carleton: The Tioga River Is Now All But Dead, But Residents Are Racing To Save The Stream And Bring Back Trout
-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission News: Recognizing 30 Years Of Hope, Hard Work - Eastern PA Coalition For Abandoned Mine Reclamation; Fighting For Freshwater Mussels; Funding Healthier Waterways
-- Gov. Shapiro Issues Proclamation Celebrating The 40 Years Of Work In Pennsylvania By The Chesapeake Bay Foundation
-- PA American Water Participates In National Source Water Protection Week Highlighting Commitment To High-Quality Water
-- WHYY - Zoe Read: PennEnvironment, Drexel University Find Microplastics In Waterways Throughout Philly Region; Environmentalists Call For Plastics Crackdown
-- Altoona Mirror: President’s New Chesapeake Bay Order Discouraging Stormwater Management Projects Gets Pushback From Gov. Shapiro, Township Supervisors Assn.
[Posted: October 3, 2026] PA Environment Digest
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