Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has awarded $2,820,389 in Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grants to eight projects across Pennsylvania focused on improving water quality and restoring impaired watersheds.
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 for 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.
Governor Shapiro’s Leadership on Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Pennsylvania’s Progress to Improve the Chesapeake Bay
Governor Josh Shapiro serves as Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council, which guides policy and leadership for restoring the Bay and includes governors from all watershed states — Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia — the Mayor of Washington, D.C., the EPA Administrator, and the Chesapeake Bay Commission Chair. These members are signatories to the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement and recently adopted the 2025 Agreement, which establishes four goals and 21 outcomes focused on improving the Chesapeake Bay over the next 15 years, including thriving habitats and wildlife, healthy landscapes, clean water, and engaged communities.
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science reported that the Chesapeake Bay continues to improve since the 1908s. The Upper Bay — fed largely by Pennsylvania rivers — scored among the highest in the watershed, reflecting Pennsylvania’s sustained progress. Overall, the Bay has shown a long-term trend of improvement thanks to the collective efforts of Pennsylvania and other states, according to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card annual assessment. DEP’s Chesapeake Restoration Division releases the Healthy Waters Healthy Communities Chesapeake Bay Progress Report each year, showcasing work throughout Pennsylvania’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Under Governor Shapiro’s leadership, Pennsylvania has made significant, measurable progress in restoring waterways and protecting the Chesapeake Bay:
- Investments: Over $1 billion invested across state, local, agricultural, and nonprofit collaborations in the last four years.
- Nitrogen reductions: Over the past five years, Pennsylvania has reduced nitrogen pollution flowing to the Bay ten times more than in the previous decade.
- Stream restoration: 139 miles of streams restored in the last six years — more than the distance from Harrisburg to Annapolis.
- Forest buffers: Nearly 945 miles of streamside forest buffers planted in the past two years, adding 1.5 million new trees. In 2024 alone, the Shapiro Administration invested $10.5 million in tree planting and lawn-to-habitat conversions.
- Farmer support: More than 2,000 farmers have accessed financial and technical assistance through the Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP), adopting conservation practices like no-till farming, streambank fencing, and wetland restoration.
Water quality improvements: Monitoring of the Susquehanna River shows long-term reductions in nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment. Local streams, including Turtle Creek in Union County, have been removed from the impaired waters list.
Visit the DEP website for more information about the Section 319 Watershed Restoration Grants. The next grant round is anticipated to open for applications in Spring 2027.
# # #