Tampa Bay Water Offers $20K in Community Mini-Grants

Deadline to apply is Oct. 31, 2011

Tampa Bay Water is offering $20,000 in mini-grants to help fund projects and events sponsored by local community groups, non-profit groups, schools and universities that help promote protection of the region's drinking water sources.

The grants are available for 2012 and the deadline to apply is Oct. 31, 2011 by 5 p.m. Information on the grant program and application materials can be found at www.tampabaywater.org, or by contacting Ivana Blankenship at 727-796-2355 or 813-996-7009.

Last year, Tampa Bay Water awarded four $5,000 mini-grants that funded projects and events sponsored by St. Cecelia Interparochial School, Lake Highlander Resident Owned Association, Tampa Bay Living Green Expo and Tampa Bay Beautification Environmental.

St. Cecelia Interparochial School used their grant money to create a curriculum for first-graders to learn the importance of protecting their community's drinking water sources. The students' parents and community got involved by planning trees and performing other related services around the area.

In 2011, the number of applications nearly doubled from the prior year. This year, Tampa Bay Water hopes to have an even better turn out.

"Protecting the sources of our drinking water is important because it ensures that our ecosystems remain healthy and functioning, and it helps to ensure public health now and into the future," said Ivana Blankenship, Senior Environmental Planner at Tampa Bay Water.

Tampa Bay Water is the largest wholesale water supplier in Florida, providing high-quality drinking water to its members, who in turn, supply water to more than 2.4 million residents of the Tampa Bay area. Tampa Bay Water member governments include the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa, and the counties of Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas.