Anderson County Watershed Protection Council Awards

Thursday’s event will include a brief overview of the Anderson Watershed Protection Council, an address from distribution ceremony.

The Anderson County Watershed Protection Council accepts grant applications for projects that will protect or restore water quality in Anderson County and in nearby portions of the Savannah River watershed. The Watershed Protection Council is working as a steward of settlement funds from the nearby 2014 Kinder Morgan gasoline pipeline spill. The advisory council is composed of volunteers from the Anderson County Council, the Board of Education, the Soil and Water Conservation District, Upstate Forever, Savannah Riverkeeper, Clemson PSA, and the impacted community.

Individual grants are awarded to not-for-profit charitable corporations or trusts; South Carolina and Georgia state agencies; municipalities in the impacted area; and educators focused on water quality in the impacted watershed. Grant awards for citizen empowerment and education projects range up to $50,000, and for water restoration and land conservation projects submitted by South Carolina and Georgia state agencies, municipalities in the impacted area, and any agency or commission, up to $100,000.

The Anderson County Watershed Grant Program is designed to be an outreach and education project to protect local land use while caring for areas historically impacted by water pollution. This grant is an opportunity to engage our local communities in water quality issues—a way to safeguard the health and vitality of our waterways.

The mission of the Anderson County Watershed Protection Council is to assist in identifying, prioritizing, and funding projects that empower citizens to take action on existing and emerging threats to water resources and to restore water quality in the impacted areas of the Savannah River watershed.