More than $90 million will support 83 projects aimed at improving water quality and restoring habitat across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, federal officials announced.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing $37 million for the projects, with another $53 million coming from other federal agencies and partners. EPA Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi announced the investments during an event at Windsor Castle Park in Smithfield, Va.
Projects will address water pollution and habitat degradation through efforts including agricultural conservation, stormwater management, stream and wetland restoration and other measures intended to reduce nutrients and sediment entering the bay and its tributaries.
The grants are being awarded through the Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants and Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction programs, which are administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as part of the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.
The Small Watershed Grants program supports community-based projects throughout the watershed. Its implementation grants can provide between $150,000 and $750,000 for projects that produce measurable improvements to water quality, species or habitat. Planning and technical assistance grants can provide as much as $150,000.
The Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction program focuses on larger collaborative efforts intended to expand implementation of practices that reduce pollution and improve watershed conditions. Initial awards under the 2026 funding opportunity can reach $1 million for up to three years of work.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed encompasses parts of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Nearly 18 million people and more than 1,800 local communities are within the watershed, according to the EPA.
The EPA has worked with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on Chesapeake Bay grants since 1999. During that period, more than $800 million has been awarded through more than 2,000 grants, according to the agency.
EPA credits those projects with reducing nitrogen pollution by more than 40 million pounds, restoring more than 3,000 miles of streamside forests and 9,500 acres of wetlands, and addressing stormwater runoff from more than 23,000 acres of impervious surfaces.
The latest grants are part of the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program, a partnership established to coordinate restoration of the bay and its watershed. In December 2025, its partners adopted a revised Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement establishing restoration, conservation and protection goals through 2040.
Photo by Priscilla Palm from Pexels
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