Decatur Receives $6.7M Watershed Protection Grant

Decatur has received a $6.72 million grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2026 Regional Conservation Partnership Program to improve water quality in the Lake Decatur watershed. The funding will support farmers adopting practices such as cover crops, no-till farming and grassy waterways, with work focused on Big Creek, Long Creek, Sand Creek and Finley Creek. Decatur’s project was one of 42 selected from 179 nationwide and the only RCPP project chosen in Illinois. It builds on a 2022 grant of nearly $10 million, which the city says helped keep thousands of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus and nearly 3,000 tons of sediment out of the lake.