Prescott:
The ADEQ is awarding a $30,000 grant to reduce hazardous household waste (HHW) in the City of Prescott in Yavapai County. The ADEQ grant will fund a one-day event, on Oct. 12th, to collect HHW, which includes certain paints, cleaners, stains and varnishes, car batteries, motor oil and pesticides.
The grant will cover labor by City personnel, advertising, transportation, coordination with law enforcement and fire authorities, rent for a fork-lift, and traffic control. The City will begin to publicize the event in August. The City conducted a successful HHW event in 2006 and expects more citizens to participate this year.
The central Yavapai County region currently has no permanent disposal site for HHW.
Hualapai Tribe:
A $35,000 grant to the Hualapai Tribe in Mohave County to protect Diamond Creek, which flows into the Colorado River on the tribe's northwestern Arizona reservation.
The funds will be used to reduce soil erosion that occurs when drivers on the unpaved Diamond Creek Road cross the creek in an area of about one-third of a mile where the creek and road are in close proximity. Sediment traps will be constructed at smaller crossings along the length of the road.
Diamond Creek Road is about 12 miles long.
The road begins in Peach Springs and is the only road access point to the river between Lees Ferry in northern Coconino County and Lake Mead. An estimated 2,400 vehicles traveled the road last year, and more are expected in years to come because of the anticipated growth of the river-tour industry.
The project will divert water from the road. Sediment traps also will help reduce erosion into Diamond Creek and the Colorado River. Water quality and aquatic insects will be monitored and education efforts will be directed to drivers and river visitors.
Both volunteers and paid employees will work on the project.
The grant is funded with federal dollars provided to ADEQ under the Clean Water Act.
Greenlee County:
A $92,294 water quality improvement grant has been awarded to a group of Greenlee County ranchers who have been working to restore Eagle Creek Watershed.
The grant is the third phase of funding for the Coronado Resource Conservation & Development Council (CRCDC), a nonprofit organization that assists local communities to improve their use of natural resources.
The CRCDC will use the funding to prevent erosion on 161,172 acres of grazing land located within the Eagle Creek Watershed & primarily leased by the ranchers from the U.S. Forest Service.
The CRCDC will work with local ranchers to install fences on the Double Circles Ranch, located near Morenci, as part of a rotational grazing system that will prevent soil runoff into Eagle Creek and exclude cattle from the creek and Sheep's Spring.
Last year, ADEQ awarded a $95,100 grant to CRCDC for the second phase of the project. In 2006, ADEQ awarded a grant for $360,930 to the Upper Eagle Creek Watershed Association for a variety of actions to prevent run-off into Eagle Creek, including fencing, alternative grazing practices and alternative water sources for livestock.
The grant is funded with federal dollars provided to ADEQ under the Clean Water Act.
Yavapai County:
The ADEQ is granting $32,289 to Mingus Springs Camp & Outdoor Learning Center for water quality improvement projects in Yavapai County. The learning center is located on Mingus Mountain, near U.S. 89A, between Cottonwood and Prescott.
The project will help protect the headwaters of Ash Creek on the Upper Agua Fria watershed from water pollution caused by increased prescribed burning, illegal off-road vehicles, a planned timber sale, and traffic of up to 100 logging trucks a week.
To control erosion threats to the waters, the project will install sediment traps and retaining walls, re-seed the area with vegetation, close illegal roads and off-highway vehicle trails, and improve the main road.
The grant is funded with federal dollars provided to ADEQ under the Clean Water Act.