Storm water grant recipients announced

Eleven Lexington neighborhood associations and nonprofit groups will receive more than $400,000 to implement storm water projects this coming year with the help of a city storm water grant program.

The grants are funded by the Water Quality Management Fee and focus on projects with a direct impact on water quality, such as installing pervious pavement, restoring streams, constructing wetlands and installing rain gardens and rain barrels. Storm water education grants focus on educating the public about storm water issues.

The board selected these recipients:

Neighborhood Grants

▪ Ashwood Townhomes of Laredo: $16,170 to improve water quality surrounding the Ashwood and Orchard Hill Townhomes community by mitigating erosion issues.

▪ Friends of Wolf Run: $43,520 to support Wolf Run’s stream buffer stewardship program.

▪ Gardenside Neighborhood Association: $16,100 to contribute to better water quality at Gardenside Park through stream bank restoration and stabilization along Wolf Run.

▪ Seven Parks Neighborhood Association: $99,900 to improve water quality and reduce erosion in the Seven Parks Neighborhood through the installation of eleven permeable paver driveways and/or rain gardens and nine rain barrels.

▪ Stonewall Community Association: $11,864 to improve water quality and reduce flooding issues by redesigning a drainage area and adding trees and other native vegetation.

▪ Tanbark Association of Neighbors: $31,650 to improve a swale by installing an erosion mat and planting native vegetation.

▪ The Woodfield Homes Association: $89,049 to improve the Woodfield Stormwater Pond by stabilizing the banks to decrease erosion and establishing a no-mow zone around the pond.

Education Grants

▪ Bluegrass Greensource: $27,135 to educate the public about how trees improve water quality.

▪ Health First Bluegrass: $2,500 to educate the public about how rain gardens and ponds improve water quality.

▪ Living Arts and Science Center: $31,033 to support programs that focus on water quality, storm water issues and water conservation. More than 40,000 children and adults will be reached through programs, classes, field trips and workshops.

▪ University of Kentucky Research Foundation: $35,000 to educate the public about the effects of excess phosphorous on our community’s streams.

In addition, storm water infrastructure grants for businesses have been accepted and are being evaluated. Recipients will be announced in the winter.

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Storm water grant recipients announced."