Tennessee American Water announced Friday that six local projects are recipients of support from the water company’s 2012 Environmental Grants Program.

“Our Environmental Grant Program allows us to partner with local organizations and schools that work to improve, restore and protect our local watersheds and environment,” said Deron Allen, president, Tennessee American Water. “These projects are important to sustaining and improving our environment and can have a direct impact on sources of our drinking water source quality.

I am extremely pleased with the quality of the programs submitted this year, and we are proud to support them.”

The 2012 grant recipients are:

• Howard School of Academics & Technology, Chattanooga Creek Watershed Restoration. $2,500. Water quality monitoring and clean-up activities of Chattanooga Creek. Project will include all science teachers at the high school and 300 students in chemistry and environmental science classes. Also will include students from Calvin Donaldson Elementary School. Funding will cover testing kits and clean-up materials.
• Lookout Mountain Conservancy, Chattanooga Creek Watershed Restoration, $2,500. Work with local volunteers and students from Howard School of Academics & Technology and Calvin Donaldson Elementary School to plant trees and remove trash along Chattanooga Creek watershed.
• Tennessee Student Environmental Alliance (TenneSEA), rain garden planting and education project, $1,500. Collaboration with Red Bank Elementary School to construct and install a rain garden on the school’s campus with monitoring of water quality. Also involves sponsoring a one-day rain garden workshop for the community. Funding will support plants, tools and the public workshop.
• Urban Century Institute, local stream restoration project, $500. Educational outreach for promotion to restore an area along South Chickamauga Creek in the Brainerd area.
• Tennessee Aquarium, Conservation “Leadership in Action” week, $1,000. Week-long summer camp for local high school students that will feature educational sessions with a local habitat restoration project.
• Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences, Walden’s Ridge water quality monitoring, $500.  Project will enhance awareness among local students through monitoring of streams on Walden’s Ridge.