Missouri American Water Announces Six Winners of Funding from Company’s Environmental Grants Program

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Missouri American Water announces six watershed-related projects will receive funding from the company’s annual Environmental Grant Program.

These grants are part of American Water’s national Environmental Grant Program, which began in 2005. The grants support innovative, community-based environmental projects that improve, restore and/or protect watersheds and community water supplies through partnerships.

The 2018 grant recipients are:

• Missouri Stream Team/Paddle Mo – Located in Shelbyville, this award will support Stream Teams United’s Paddle Mo event, in which paddlers come together to celebrate the final 100 miles of the Missouri River as it joins the Mississippi River.
• Wildcat Glades Friends Group – This group from Joplin manages the Shoal Creek Water Festival 2018, which brings together people from four states to learn about water quality and conservation through hands-on activities and educational booths.
• Forest ReLeaf of Missouri – This St. Louis group seeks to enhance the environmental benefits of land it manages by planting a pollinator garden. This garden will educate visitors, promote native plants and support native bee and butterfly populations.
• Great Rivers Habitat Alliance – This St. Louis group will host a volunteer stewardship day in the Meramec Watershed near Arnold to remove debris from multiple floods in 2016 and 2017.
• Missouri River Relief – This Columbia-based group will lead a community-based cleanup of trash from the shores of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in St. Charles and St. Louis counties.
• St. Joseph Youth Alliance – This group’s Project WET! will bring together participating youth to explore and investigate aquatic ecosystems by taking water samples for testing, picking up trash from streams and producing informational literature about the importance of clean watersheds.

“Great Rivers Habitat Alliance and the Open Space Council both commend Missouri American Water for their commitment to park restoration along the Meramec River,” said David Stokes, Executive Director of the Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, one of the Environmental Grant recipients. “By supporting our park restoration efforts, Missouri American Water is showing its commitment to clean water, public parks, and nature-based flood control efforts. This grant will allow us to make great progress in Robert Winter Park, and we thank Missouri American for their support of both organizations.”

Missouri American Water

Missouri American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to approximately 1.5 million people.

With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 6,900 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to an estimated 15 million people in 46 states and Ontario, Canada. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to make sure we keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit amwater.com and follow American Water on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.