The Southwest Florida Water Management District honored Alton Cheatham of the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center for his outstanding water resources education project. A total of 29 projects were recognized Wednesday during the “Partners in Watershed Education Conference” at the Crowne Plaza Tampa East Hotel.
Cheatham was recognized for the Charlotte Harbor/Lemon Bay Surface Water Improvement and Management Watershed Education Program. This project educated the general public about water quality and watershed protection. More than 8,500 residents were reached through a three-day water school, wading trips, upriver and downriver tours of the Peace River watershed, a volunteer water quality monitoring program and other outreach.
Portions of Charlotte, DeSoto Hardee, Highlands and Polk counties, are represented by the District’s Peace River Basin, which funds projects within Charlotte County.
To select the awardees, District staff reviewed school projects funded through the Splash! mini-grant program and grants applied for by community members, local governments and non-profit groups through the community education grant program. District-sponsored programs that use volunteers to educate others about water conservation were also considered.
Many of the District’s grant projects focus on various aspects of all four of the District’s areas of responsibility — water supply, water quality, natural systems protection and flood protection.