Senator Patrick M. Gallivan (R-C, Elma) announced state grants for three local projects aimed at improving water quality by reducing road salt usage and stormwater pollutants. The funding is provided through the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Water Quality Improvement Project.

“Protecting our environment and our local waterways is important to everyone,” Senator Gallivan said. “This funding will help local municipalities limit their use of road salt and reduce potential stormwater pollutants.”

Local grants include:

$408,000 to the Town of West Seneca to replace an undersized and failing salt storage structure. The project will protect water quality in the Buffalo Creek and Lake Erie watershed.

$300,000 to the Village of Angola, in partnership with the Town of Evans, to purchase a vacuum truck to clean out catch basins. The project will reduce stormwater pollutants and protect water quality in the Lake Erie watershed.

$206,250 to the Town of Newstead Highway Department to implement a road salt reduction program. The town will purchase equipment to create and store liquid salt brine to be used for snow and ice removal. The equipment will reduce the town’s use of road salt, preventing excess salt from entering waterways, including Tonawanda Creek and the Lake Erie watershed.

Statewide, more than $246 million will help support 139 projects through the DEC’s Water Quality Improvement Project grant program, which is primarily supported by the state's 2022 Clean Water, Clean Air, Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, Environmental Protection Fund, and Clean Water Infrastructure funding. 

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