Cedar Rapids to receive $7M to improve Cedar River water quality
CEDAR RAPIDS — The city of Cedar Rapids will receive about $7 million in funding through an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve water quality in the Cedar River.
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service this week announced it has selected the city’s Cedar River Source Water Partnership project to receive the funding through the agency’s Regional Conservation Partnership Project, according to a news release.
The Cedar Rapids project is an extension of city efforts working upstream in agricultural areas to improve water quality conditions in the river — directly benefiting the city by improving drinking water quality, reducing flood flows and improving fish and wildlife habitat.
It is a collaboration among communities and agricultural partners to address water quality conditions that threaten public and private source water supplies. The project will support on-the-ground conservation practices on farmland and will give direct technical assistance to farmers and other agricultural producers.