Racine Gains E.P.A. Great Lakes Shoreline Cities Green Infrastructure Grant

RACINE - The E.P.A. today announced the award of a $250,000 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant to the city of Racine to fund green infrastructure plans to enhance water quality in Lake Michigan. E.P.A. Region five Administrator / Great Lakes National Plan Manager Susan Hedman was joined at Memorial Hall by Racine Mayor John Dickert and Vicki Elkin, Executive Director of the Fund for Lake Michigan to declare the projects.

"The City of Racine will use this E.P.A. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Shoreline Cities Green Infrastructure grant to prevent storm water from carrying contamination into Lake Michigan," said Hedman. "These green infrastructure plans will also help protect against flooding during more frequent and intense storms which may occur as a result of climate change."

Racine will use the E.P.A. grant, in combination with backing from the City ($101,190) and the Fund for Lake Michigan ($167,100), to construct green infrastructure plans in 2 city parks on the shore of Lake Michigan. The City will install a series of bioswales and bioretention basins to capture and filter stormwater before it is discharged into the Lake.

"We are proud that our efforts have paid off and that the E.P.A. will continue to support our work on Pershing and Meyers Park," Dickert said.

"With a matching grant from the Fund for Lake Michigan, Racine can turn a neglected beach into an asset on the city's lake front," Elkin said.

Racine is one of 16 cities to gain backing in the initial round of EPA's new GLRI Shoreline Cities grant program. These grants can be used to fund up to 50 percent of the cost of green infrastructure plans on public property. The plans include rain gardens, bioswales, green roofs, porous pavement, greenways, constructed wetlands, stormwater tree trenches and other green infrastructure measures designed to enhance water quality in the Great Lakes basin.

To find more information about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative or Shoreline Cities Green Infrastructure Grants, visit www.glri.us.

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