DRBC's Beth Brown giving remarks at the SRRF grant announcement. Photo courtesy of the Schuylkill Action Network (SAN).

The Schuylkill River Watershed is getting a little cleaner, thanks to the recent round of grant funding from the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund (SRRF). DRBC Director of External Affairs and Communications Beth Brown participated in the announcement ceremony, held earlier this month at Riverfront Park in Pottstown, Pa.

This year, $362,756 in grant money was awarded to seven projects that will address stormwater runoff and/or agricultural pollution and one land acquisition project for a new urban open space.

• 2022 SRRF Grant Recipients: Project Summaries (docx)

In addition to Ms. Brown, Schuylkill River Greenways (SRG) Deputy Director Tim Fenchel and representatives from Constellation, the Philadelphia Water Department and Aqua PA also gave remarks. The SRG oversees/manages the SRRF.

The day also featured a bus tour to several local project sites that were previous SRRF awardees.

The SRRF is a great example of how partnering works to accomplish great things, bringing together government agencies, private industries, non-profit organizations, local businesses, and local community members to achieve positive environmental results for the Schuylkill River Watershed.

The SRRF resulted from a 2004 DRBC docket approval to Exelon (now Constellation) for its Limerick Generating Station. There was - and still is - a shared desire to assist the restoration of the Schuylkill River Watershed by providing large grants for on-the-ground improvements, focusing on projects that address stormwater runoff, agricultural pollution and drainage from abandoned mines. The DRBC approves the projects that are selected for grants using the Constellation funds and is one of several entities that sits on an advisory committee that chooses which projects get awarded annually.

Since being established in 2006, the fund has collected more than $5 million - and leveraged another $5 million – for more than 130 projects that protect and restore the Schuylkill River.

Learn More:

• The Schuylkill River Restoration Fund
  
  
• View additional event photos on SAN's Flickr page

SRG Deputy Director Tim Fenchel provides remarks. Photo by the DRBC.	Placards explaining what's been completed at the Charlestown Playhouse in Phoenixville. A rain garden and other stormwater drainage projects will improve quality in Pickering Creek. Photo courtesy of SAN.	Philadelphia Water Department's Marc Cammarata provides remarks. Photo by the DRBC.
Jacob Reiff Park in Lower Salford Twp. was awarded a SRRF grant for a streambank restoration/stabilization project along the West Branch of Skippack Creek. Photo by the DRBC.	Aqua Pennsylvania & The Essential Foundation's Krista Seng provides remarks. Photo by the DRBC.	The Borough of Pottstown received two SRRF grants to install water quality inlet filters in their stormwater system to improve water quality in the Manatawny Creek. Photo by the DRBC.