DATE: 11/18/08

CONTACT: Lisa Schell, (919) 571-6757

RELEASE: Immediate

DISTRIBUTION: Statewide

CLEAN WATER MANAGEMENT TRUST FUND BOARD MAKES $28.8 MILLION IN FINAL WATER QUALITY GRANT AWARDS FOR 2008

RALEIGH -- The board of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund completed its 2008 granting year by funding 33 water quality projects totaling $31 million at its November 10 meeting in Raleigh.

The grant awards will help purchase land to protect water quality, manage stormwater runoff, restore streams, creeks and other waterways, and improve wastewater treatment facilities and septic systems all across the state. The grant requests were submitted for consideration on Feb. 1, 2008.

The 33 projects funded on November 10 include:

• $3 million to the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust to help purchase the Pond Mountain tract and protect Big Horse Creek in Ashe County;
• $2 million to the the town of Creedmore to purchase the Fontaine tract in Granville County and protect Falls Lake;
• $3 million to the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority to make wastewater treatment improvements to help protect the Tuckaseigee River in Jackson County

The list of grant requests approved at the November meeting is available on line here.

Prior to the November meeting,CWMTF trustees had awarded approximately $80 million in grants to protect surface water quality across the state. With this recent action, a total of $121.3 million in grant funds have been allocated on behalf of water quality protection in the state in 2008.

CWMTF will accept requests for new grant funding on Feburary 1, 2009.

The CWMTF was established 1996 to help finance projects that enhance or restore degraded waters, protect unpolluted waters, and/or contribute toward a network of riparian buffers and greenways for environmental, educational, and recreational benefits.

CWMTF estimates that over $17 billion is needed to protect and restore water quality in North Carolina.

The independent, CWMTF Board of Trustees has full responsibility over the allocation of moneys from the trust fund.