Illegal dump sites in Adams County are being cleaned courtesy of two grants from Mississippi’s Department of Environmental Quality.

The most recent grant, awarded Dec. 30, provides the county with $32,343 to clean up after people who dump trash illegally in the county.

In 1998, Adams County received a similar DEQ&160;grant for $41,255.

&uot;The DEQ allows counties to apply for solid waste grants to clean up illegal dump sites,&uot; said Russell Dorris, director of the Adams County Department of Road Management.

Dorris assesses illegal dump sites in Adams County, generates an estimate for cleanup of those sites and sends that proposal to the DEQ in the form of a grant proposal.

&uot;Then our application is taken before the DEQ Commission where it’s either denied or approved,&uot; he said. &uot;Fortunately, this one was approved.&uot;

Dump sites Dorris identified for the two grants include sites on Bourke Road off Cloverdale Road, Broadmoor Drive at the bridge, Brooklyn Drive, Carthage Point Road, Kudzu Lane off Steamplant Road, Greenwood Plantation Road off Steamplant Road, Lower Woodville Road just off Hutchins Landing Road, Old Meadville Road at Fenwick Subdivision, Prospect Road off Springfield Road, Redd Loop Road off Morgantown Road, Wickliff Road, Quitman Road, Lower Woodville Road, Churchill Road, West Stiers Lane, Cemetery Road and East Wilderness Road.

Cleanup of the sites means hauling all the garbage to approved landfills, and then restoring the unauthorized dump site to its natural state, Dorris said.

Adams County road crews are currently working on dump sites with monies from the 1998 grant.

&uot;We certainly appreciate the Legislature providing these funds,&uot; Dorris said. &uot;We’re happy that we might be able to make some improvements in our environment and in our neighborhoods.&uot;

Virginia Salmon, president of the Adams County Board of Supervisors, said she sees the solid waste grants as a step in the right direction.

&uot;We are desperately trying to clean up illegal dumps,&uot; Salmon said. &uot;These grants will go a long way toward improving Adams County.&uot;