Mobile County Project Safeguards Area Drinking Water

Posted on: May 25th, 2010 | News and Announcements

Mobile County commissioners Monday voted to purchase more than 600 acres of vacant land, mostly along the Big Creek Lake watershed, to protect the quality of Mobile?s main source of drinking water. Mobile County acquired the $2 million grant for the land purchase through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP). The county applied for the grant in November, seeking to limit development within the watershed that could lead to polluted runoff and degradation of water quality. About 200 acres of the land purchase is located in the Escatawpa River watershed, also for the purpose of protecting the quality of its water. ?We had an opportunity to apply for a grant that is specifically allocated for these kinds of reasons,? said Mobile County Commission president Merceria Ludgood. ?It is an important bulwark against the deterioration of the water quality along our waterways.? The money is provided through royalties from off-shore drilling. Looking to apply funding from the same source, the County of Mobile has another $10 million in grant applications that have been moving through the approval process at MMS for about the last five years. Those grant proposals are aimed at the following: · Fortifying and enhancing the shorelines of Mobile County; · Taking septic tanks off-line to improve wastewater effluent; · Improving oyster beds and protecting vital fishing interests. ?We have been putting a lot of our resources toward obtaining these grants because we know we can make substantial improvements to our shoreline and our seafood industry,? said county Commissioner Mike Dean. ?I hope and pray we have a chance to do that.?