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$7.4 million grant aims to improve northwest Ohio water quality

It was announced Monday at the Lake Erie Center that northwest Ohio would be receiving $7.4 million as part of a larger grant given to the entire Great Lakes region.

TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - It was announced Monday at the Lake Erie Center that northwest Ohio would be receiving $7.4 million as part of a larger grant given to the entire Great Lakes region.

“Our overall theme is, it's a regional solution, across multiple states,” said Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler.

He says this money is for a lot more than just agriculture.

“It's about improvements we need to make at water treatment plants, it's about improvements we want to make in failing home septic systems, and absolutely, it also pertains to agriculture,” said Butler.

Senator Sherrod Brown says he wants to see this money used to help reduce runoff, something he says is extremely important in order to help protect one of the greatest resources.

“It's particularly crucial here in the Great Lakes Initiative, it's particularly crucial to have both the EPA and the DNR and also to have the Department of Agriculture here, present, making sure that we can reduce runoff,” said Senator Brown.

Of the $7.4 million given to the state of Ohio, over a million was given to the Ohio EPA. Director Butler says they will use that money to monitor the watershed. He also says some EPA money will be given to the Department of Health.

“We can use that in a way, to restore failing on the septic systems that are in residential areas,” said Butler.

Many seem very enthusiastic about receiving the grant money, saying that without it the city would not have the resources to improve the watershed.

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