PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a $886,000 grant to the District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) today to help pay for canopies to protect municipal industrial vehicles and reduce runoff of harmful pollutants.

“Urban stormwater is a significant source of water pollution and can be a serious public health concern,” said EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “This funding will support the District of Columbia’s efforts to help prevent pollutants from draining from public works vehicles into local waterways.”

Stormwater improvements in the district also support efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay because much of the urban runoff from the district eventually runs into the Potomac River and other waterways that ultimately feed into the Chesapeake Bay.

Municipal industrial vehicles such as snowplows, leaf vacuums, street sweepers, and trash trucks leach critical pollutant sources including heavy metals, salt, oils, and sediment onto roadways that drain into local sewers and local waterways. This funding will be used to design and construct two municipal, industrial vehicle canopies totaling 55,100 square feet and regrade the surrounding area.

The D.C. DOEE anticipates the project will divert approximately 41,188 gallons of stormwater from coming in contact with these industrial vehicles prior to entering the district’s stormwater system.

The funding comes from EPA’s Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants (OSG) program that provides grants to manage combined sewer overflows, sanitary sewer overflows, and stormwater flows.

This is the first year of the OSG program and the District of Columbia is the first recipient of an OSG grant. Overall, EPA will be awarding more than $67 million in OSG grants. 

For more information on EPA’s OSG program, visit: https://www.epa.gov/cwsrf/sewer-overflow-and-stormwater-reuse-municipal-grants-program