News

The North Carolina Land and Water Fund announced last week that Sound Rivers has been selected as recipient of two grants totaling $125,000.

“We’re excited about these grants because they will allow us to dig into some much-needed water-quality work,” said Sound Rivers Executive Director Heather Deck.

A $50,000 grant will fill a gap in the City of Kinston, according to Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop.

“We’re partnering with East Carolina University researchers and the City of Kinston to do some needed water-quality monitoring and identify future water-quality improvement projects for Adkin Branch,” Samantha said. “The City is doing a lot work on Adkin Branch flood mitigation, and we’ll be filling the gap regarding water quality.”

Samantha said the NCLWF grant will continue Sound Rivers’ work on the beloved urban waterway.

“This environmental justice community is a place we’ve worked for a long time, and we want to keep giving our love to it,” she said.

A $75,000 grant will fund a watershed restoration plan for what’s known as “The Slough” in the small town of Pikeville in Wayne County. Pikeville has had past problems with flooding, and the watershed plan will address two issues — water quality and flood mitigation—for the stream that flows into the upper headwaters of Nahunta Swamp, Heather said.

“The difference with this watershed restoration plan is that Kris Bass Engineering is going to assess about 5,000 linear feet of the stream that goes through town to do a 1,500 linear-foot restoration of the stream bank. They’re going to try to restore the stream channel to its natural state and use the existing structure to incorporate some flood retention projects for stormwater flooding,” Heather said.

In addition to infrastructure projects, where stormwater is coming from and where it’s flowing to will be digitally mapped to assist with future infrastructure construction.

See all awards from the North Carolina Land and Water Fund.

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