The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Solano County Water Agency, along with Westside Sacramento Integrated Water Management Group, a $467,378 federal grant to assess contamination of abandoned mines in four counties, U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson and John Garamendi said.

Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Garamendi, D-Fairfield, made the joint announcement Thursday, saying the money would be used to examine mines in Lake, Napa, Solano and Yolo counties.

Specifically, the grant was awarded to Solano County to support its work on the Westside Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP), the two members of Congress said.

The plan was put together by the Westside-Sacramento Regional Water Management Group, a coalition of public agencies in Yolo, Colusa, Lake, Solano, and Napa counties that are collaborating on identifying and addressing regional water resources in the Cache Creek and Putah Creek watersheds.

The project also calls for looking for both opportunities and challenges, the two said, such as cleanups of mercury contamination.

The grant will fund the inventory of brownfields that contain mines in these watersheds, conduct environmental site assessments and prepare site cleanup plans, they said. Brownfields are lands previously used for commercial or industrial purposes that might contain hazardous waste or other pollution, or which have been determined to have been contaminated by those materials.

The EPA started its brownfields program in 1995, and its investments have leveraged more than $22 billion for cleanup or redevelopment activities — about $17.79 for each EPA brownfield dollar spent, the two men said.

That has resulted in about 105,942 jobs nationwide, they said.

The coalition will look at contaminated mine sites on private lands that could be cleaned and used for public benefit, such as for open space, economic development, habitat restoration or water quality improvement, the congressmen said.

About 100 abandoned mines are situated in the upper Cache Creek and Putah Creek watersheds of the inter-coastal mountain range west of the Sacramento River in Lake, Napa, Solano and Yolo counties, they said.

Jared Blumenfeld, EPA regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest, said his agency is committed to helping communities strengthen their economies through the cleanup of abandoned industrial and commercial sites, where both those cleanups and additional jobs are needed.

“Congratulations to the Solano County Water Agency and their partners on being awarded a brownfields grant that will help clean up abandoned land so that it’s safe and can be enjoyed by the public,” said Thompson, Benicia’s representative in the U.S. House.

“By revitalizing these deserted commercial properties, we can create open spaces, spur economic development, restore habitat and improve water quality.”

“This grant gives us the tools to clean up our communities, protect public health, and support local businesses,” Garamendi said. “It will also help us enjoy the great outdoors and strengthen Northern California’s tourism industry.”

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