WEBB CITY, Mo. (AP) — Webb City officials plan to use a $3 million grant to buy land for a wetlands project designed to combat pollution runoff from former mines.
The southwest Missouri city recently received the grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The plan is to buy land along Center Creek to use as a 100-acre wetland. Another 1,200 acres would be used for wildlife habitat, walking trails and picnic areas.
The Joplin Globe reports Webb City leaders have been talking to federal and state regulators about ways to reduce heavy metal runoff from decades of lead and zinc mining.
Interim City Administrator Carl Francis says the wetlands would trap sediment, excess nutrients and pollutants that currently flow into Center Creek and then into Spring River.