Just over a dozen projects in the counties that make up the Adirondack Park were given more than $8 million by the state Department of Environmental Conservation late last year for water quality improvement projects.

Statewide, the DEC handed out $103 million to 124 projects, and 15 of those are in counties that are either wholly or partially inside the Adirondack Park.

Seven of the projects funded are for salt storage, while five are for wastewater treatment upgrades, two will address non-agricultural runoff, and one will be used to buy land.

In Clinton County, the towns of Ellenburg, Dannemora and Saranac will use a combined $1.5 million for salt storage facilities, and the city of Plattsburgh was awarded $750,000 to improve its wastewater treatment.

The towns of Crown Point and Moriah will also improve their wastewater treatment in Essex County, and the Saratoga County Soil and Water Conservation District will use almost $400,000 to stabilize roadside ditches to cut down on erosion and runoff in Essex, Fulton, Hamilton, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties.

The town of Newport in Herkimer County will build a new salt storage facility, and the town of Schuyler will improve its wastewater treatment. The village of Ilion also plans on addressing non-agricultural runoff in Herkimer County.

In Oneida County, The Nature Conservancy was awarded more than a half-million dollars to purchase land in the Black and Mohawk river watersheds, and the town of Florence plans to build a new salt storage facility.

The towns of Lisbon and Colton will also build new salt sheds in St. Lawrence County and Lisbon was also given almost $275,000 to install a new disinfection system at its wastewater treatment plant.

The grants were primarily funded through the 2017 Clean Water Infrastructure Act and the state’s Environmental Protection Fund. The grants cover up to 75 percent of the total cost of the projects.