MPC Research Assistant Dan McDonell wrote this post.
Illinois American Water (IAW), a private water supplier serving parts of the greater Chicago area, has announced that it is accepting applications for its 2011 Environmental Grant Program to improve and protect local watersheds.
Created in 2005, IAW’s grant program awards grantees up to $10,000 for “innovative, community-based environmental projects that improve, restore or protect the watersheds, surface water and/or groundwater supplies in our local communities.” Watershed cleanups, reforestation efforts, biodiversity projects, streamside buffer restoration projects and hazardous waste collection efforts are all cited as examples of eligible activities.
Past local grant awards have included $5,300 for aquatic invasive species education and research in DuPage County, $3,000 for debris removal and creek stabilization in Joliet, and $3,000 for water education in Libertyville.
To be eligible, the project must be a community initiative and be located within the Illinois American Water service area. In northeastern Illinois, IAW service areas include parts or all of the suburbs of Bolingbrook, Des Plaines, Elmhurst, Homer Glen, Lisle, Mokena, Mount Prospect, Orland Hills, Orland Park, Prospect Heights, Romeoville, Wheaton, Woodridge, and other unincorporated areas. To find out more information on your drinking water provider, go to the What Our Water’s Worth interactive map tool and click on your town or contact IAW.
Grant application deadlines are due March 25, 2011. For more details, visit American Illinois Water’s environmental grant program web site.