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SPRINGFIELD, ILL. (AP) -- State grants are available to local governments and other organizations to protect Illinois waterways from pollution.

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Doug Scott says the grant process has been updated.

He says it is more user-friendly and can be completed electronically.

The final document must be mailed, however.

The grants are to prevent "nonpoint" pollution sources, such as runoff from storms into rivers, wetlands or groundwater.

Priority goes to projects that develop an approved "Watershed Based Plan."

Past projects have included detention basins and "filter strips."

The federal money through the Clean Water Act comprises 60 percent of a project's total funding.

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On the Net: www.epa.state.il.us;

http://tinyurl.com/pollution-grants

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