[ADEQ Media] ADEQ Director Steve Owens Awards $32, 000 Water Quality Improvement Grant to Pinetop-Lakeside to Reduce Pollution in Rainbow Lake

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

ADEQ Director Steve Owens Awards $32,000 Water Quality Improvement Grant
to Pinetop-Lakeside to Reduce Pollution in Rainbow Lake

PHOENIX (June 25, 2007) - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
(ADEQ) Director Steve Owens today announced that the department has
awarded a $32,000 water quality improvement grant to the Town of
Pinetop-Lake to reduce help reduce pollution in Rainbow Lake. 

Rainbow Lake is a 125-acre man-made lake on Walnut Creek, located off
Highway 260 in Pinetop-Lakeside in the Silver Creek sub-watershed of the
Little Colorado watershed.  The Lake is overgrown with algae fed by soil
containing animal waste and fertilizer that has been running off from
surrounding lands. The town will plant buffer strips of vegetation to
help prevent runoff from reaching the lake.  The Show Low Creek
Watershed Enhancement Partnership, a local watershed group, will serve
as project manager for the effort.

"Rainbow Lake is a point of pride for the Pinetop-Lakeside community -
and for White Mountain residents in general," Director Owens said.
"Families throughout the White Mountains rely on the Lake for fishing,
boating and other recreational activities.  We are committed to working
with the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside, the Show Low Creek Watershed
Enhancement Partnership and concerned citizens to stop the runoff into
the Lake and improve the water quality in it."

Owens added that ADEQ also is working with the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside
to develop longer-term strategies for improving conditions in Rainbow
Lake.

The grant is funded with federal dollars provided to ADEQ under the
Clean Water Act.

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News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at
communications@azdeq.gov.

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