Next month a local organization will receive two grants from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The Lawrence Scioto Solid Waste Management District has been awarded two EPA grants for a total of $40,000. One grant will allow the LSSWMD to purchase nine hi-tech surveillance cameras that will be placed in various locations to monitor illegal dumping and the breaking of other environmental laws.

“The cameras are going to have zoom and motion detection capabilities,” Dan Palmer, LSSWMD district coordinator said. “Plus they come with weather resistant cases and software that will upload video and images from the field to our office computers, so that we will be able to use them to help with prosecution in the courts.”

The second grant will allow the LSSWMD to help supply Judge Tim Collins’ work program with necessary equipment, including weedeaters and an 8-by-20 foot trailer.

“We work really closely with Judge Collins and his crew,” Palmer said. “They help so much with trash pickups, and with maintaining different locations in the area. We appreciate them and this grant will allow us to get them some things like the trailer that they were really needing.”

Palmer and the LSSWMD applied for the grants in October of last year and will officially receive the grants on June 30 in Columbus.