Essential Utilities "Protect Your Drinking Water" Grant Program 2026
Ends on
Grant Guidelines
General Information: Essential Utilities' "Protect Your Drinking Water" Grant Program is being offered by Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC), in partnership and with funding from Essential Utilities. This program provides grants ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 for watershed protection and education projects that serve to protect the sources of public drinking water by addressing potential sources of contaminants (i.e., excess nutrients, sediment, road salts, pathogens, etc.) to our waterways. Grants may be used for a variety of projects that result in the protection or improvement of the community’s public drinking water supplies, such as green stormwater infrastructure, stream bank stabilization, agricultural best management practices, spill prevention planning, and educational programming.
Eligibility: Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations with tax-exempt status 501(c)(3), educational institutions, municipalities, and local government entities. The geographic areas for the grant program are Essential Utilities priority source water protection regions. During 2026, grants are targeting the Chester/Ridley Crum Watersheds area again along with the Neshaminy Creek and the East Branch of Brandywine Creek Watersheds in southeast Pennsylvania. These are surface water source water protection areas. Please click here for maps showing additional details.
Also included in this round are ground water protection areas for wells in municipalities located in Montgomery, Bucks and Chester Counties. Please click here for a list of the municipalities with groundwater source water protections areas. A program or project in any area within these municipalities is eligible for the grant funding.
Funding and Match: This program funding is provided by Essential Utilities. All grants given will require a 20% match of cash, in-kind, or a combination of cash and in-kind donations. 90% of funds awarded will be dispersed up-front and the remaining 10% will be dispersed following the completion of the project report.
Additional Requirements:
- Projects should be ready for implementation with any landowner approvals, partners and match funding in place.
- Projects must be able to be completed within the timeframe of the grant period.
- All construction projects must demonstrate high standards of planning and design.
- Funding for staff time related to the project may be covered for 501(c)3 organizations only.
- Applicants may submit up to two (2) projects for consideration.
- Organizations selected to receive grants will be invited to attend a public ceremony to announce the awards. This event will take place during Earth Week - 2026 on a date to be announced.
Grantees will be required to follow program guidelines for acknowledging Pennsylvania Environmental Council and Essential Utilities as the source of funding, including:
- The approved use of PEC and Essential Utilities logos on any signage, brochures, web pages or other media related to the project.
- Tagging @EssentialWTRG and @PennsylvaniaEnvironmentalCouncil in any social media posts related to the project.
- Using the following funding language in all communications related to the project: “Funding for this project was awarded through the “Protect Your Drinking Water” grant program, administered by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council with funding from Essential Utilities.
Contact
For questions regarding the application, please contact PEC's Paul Racette at pracette@pecpa.org
For technical questions regarding completion of this application, contact support@submittable.com Monday-Friday, 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. with limited availability on the weekends.
Please visit www.pecpa.org to learn more about Pennsylvania Environmental Council or visit www.essential.co/ to learn more about Essential Utilities.
Completing the Application: It is possible to complete the application during multiple sessions. Be sure to save as you go and before you end any session. Please answer all questions and upload all necessary and supporting documentation before your final submission.
Important Dates:
- January 16, 2026 at 5:00PM EST – Grant applications due
- February 13, 2026 - Grantees notified
- March 1, 2026 – Grant project period of performance begins
- March 1, 2026 – Funding dispersed for 2026 - 27 projects
- Earth Week April 2026 - Date TBD - Grantees announced at press event
- June 1, 2027 – Contract Ends
- July 1, 2027 - Financial Report and Success Story template required in order to release final 10% of grant funds