The Save Speedwell citizens group has received a $432,509 state grant to make the upper end of the Speedwell Forge Lake deeper before the drained lake is repaired and refilled.

"We want to bring the lake back in as great a shape as possible. Certainly this is a benefit to the lake and its fishery and wildlife," said Andrea Becker of Save Speedwell.

The grant, through the state Department of Environmental Protection's "Growing Greener" program, was one of six received by Lancaster County groups or municipalities totaling more than $1.4 million.

Also getting grants were Lancaster city, Cocalico Creek Watershed Association, Conservation Foundation of Lancaster County, Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Stroud Water Research Center.

Removing the stored sediment at Speedwell Forge also will prevent it from washing downstream and into the Chesapeake Bay.

The Save Speedwell group will now seek bids and hire a contractor to remove 37,000 cubic yards of sediment that has filled in the upper, northern portion of the lake.

The 106-acre public lake owned by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission was drained in 2011 after the dam's emergency spillway developed cracks from heavy rains from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee that year.

Residents and local legislators have pushed for repairs and to have the popular public lake refilled.

Gov. Tom Corbett announced last July he had set aside $6.4 million in the state budget for repairs. And U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had committed $900,000 to the project.

PFBC said Wednesday that it has received notification that funding is in place. Repairing the dam is tentatively scheduled to take place in November and December 2015.

In the meantime, Save Speedwell intends to work on the lake bed so that the lake comes back healthier than ever.

"We want to be agents of change to help get things done," Becker said. "We want to help the process and went after grants the Fish and Boat Commission could not go after."

The agency, she said, has been "so helpful and supportive. We certainly are all pulling in the same direction."

The lake, said Becker, of Manheim, "is very near and dear to my heart. I kind of feel like it's my lake, and I think a lot of people feel the same way."

Others receiving "Growing Greener" grants were:

• Lancaster city, $379,457. The money will be used to boost the city's Green Infrastructure Plan.

The city will use its grant for innovative ways to control stormwater runoff. Projects to be funded by the grant include rain gardens, porous pavement and tree plantings.

The city has proposed a 25-year, $140 million plan to control stormwater runoff in the city.

The city, like about 800 other older U.S. cities, has a combined sewer and stormwater system. When it gets overwhelmed during heavy rains, raw sewage gets pumped into the Conestoga River and eventually the Chesapeake Bay.

The city is under the gun from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to do something. The Green Infrastructure Plan to divert and soak up stormwater through "green" means is the city's answer.

The plan has not yet been approved by EPA but the city is confident it will get approval and is moving ahead.

• Stroud Water Research Center, $369,245. The money will be used to help farmers on 40 properties in the eastern part of Lancaster County that border polluted streams to come into compliance with state conservation regulations.

The money will fund about 200 best-management practices on the farms, including 16 miles of forested buffers. The grant also will try to help the farmers obtain nutrient credits which could then be sold in a state auction for money to entities who need to reduce nutrient pollution.

• Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited, $216,200. The grant will be used on the nonprofit organization's ongoing restoration of Conowingo Creek in East Drumore and Little Britain townships.

Included will be stabilizing 10,000 linear feet of eroded stream bank, cattle-excluding fencing and establishing riparian plants along the stream.

• Cocalico Creek Watershed Association, $30,000. The money will be used for bank stabilization, stream reforestation and removing old "legacy" sediment from a section of Cocalico Creek in East Cocalico Township.

• Conservation Foundation of Lancaster County, $12,387. The money will be used to retrofit a poorly functioning dry retention basin and turn it into a wetlands planted with native trees, shrubs and plants at an office complex on Historic Drive in Strasburg Borough.

acrable@lnpnews.com