The regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency says the grants to the Blue River Watershed Association and the Heartland Conservation Alliance are part of about $2 million in funding EPA’s providing to organizations around the country to help protect and restore urban waters.

The Kansas City groups are getting about $60,000 each for projects that include involving underserved youth in water quality monitoring studies and identifying vacant land in the watershed for possible low-impact development.

The Urban Waters Federal Partnership is a collaboration of 13 federal agencies working to reconnect urban communities with their waterways. The Middle Blue River was added as a project in 2013.