Grant Money Will Help Restore Booze Creek

The Maryland Board of Public Works approved $28.87 million in grants on Wednesday to help improve the cleanliness of the state's water, including a $500,000 grant for the restoration of Booze Creek in Montgomery County.

The grant for Booze Creek, which is part of the Cabin John Creek Watershed, will help reduce pollution from sediment, nutrients and potential sewer leaks that could enter the creek and feed into the Chesapeake Bay, according to a news release from Maryland Board of Public Works. The grant from the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund will go to help restore 2,300 feet of Booze Creek — a creek where the water quality has suffered because of the increase in water during storms, according to the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection.

Because of the heavy rainfall and storms, Booze Creek has exposed sanitary sewer system pipes, which can leak raw sewage into the streams, according to the Environmental Protection website. The grant money approved Wednesday will correct some of the damage to the creek because of development, enlargement of the channel and exposed utilities, according to the release.