Water Resources Fund Provides $5 Million for Waterways

Healthy waterways are vital to the communities Duke Energy serves. But we can’t do it alone.

Over the past two years, Duke Energy’s Water Resources Fund has helped fund 59 projects by organizations across the Carolinas and Virginia, providing support for the good work done by others.

The fund helps support projects that strengthen water quality, reinforce the importance of conservation, and expand public access to waterways for citizens and visitors across the region.

At the end of 2016, the fund had awarded more than $5 million – more than halfway to its $10 million multiyear commitment from Duke Energy. Recipients are selected by an independent body that includes five environmental experts and two Duke Energy employees.

Among the allocations was a $15,000 grant to Clemson University in South Carolina to sponsor a graduate level course for K-12 teachers that explores the interrelationship of energy production, water and the environment. This course is taught by Clemson University faculty members, a S.C. Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist and Duke Energy scientists.

Also, the Conservation Fund received $100,000 to protect critical acreage that contains the headwaters of the French Broad River in the Headwaters State Forest in North Carolina.

Learn more about our commitment to the environment in our 2016 Sustainability Report.