Four Ohio cities on the coast of Lake Erie will receive more than $1.3 million in grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for green infrastructure projects to improve the lake's water quality.

Cleveland, Lakewood, Lorain and Toledo will receive funds from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for projects that use primarily vegetation and soil to filter stormwater and slow its flow into sewers and Lake Erie. Green initiatives can include rain gardens, bioswales and porous pavement. The cities receiving the grants must match or exceed the amount of the federal grant with local dollars, according to Cleveland.com.

The city of Lakewood will receive $107,500 from the EPA to install bioretention planters in Madison Park to absorb and hold rainwater, reducing the runoff into the city's sewer system. The city also plans to use part of the grant for water-absorbing landscaping and permeable paving in a city-owned parking lot north of Detroit Avenue.

The city of Cleveland will use a $500,000 grant to reconstruct a parking lot on West 25th Street with permeable pavers, allowing rainwater to seep into the ground instead of overflowing into sewers. The city also plans to plant additional trees to help absorb rainwater.

A $250,000 grant to Lorain will be used to improve stormwater management at Lakeview Park, reducing the levels of bacteria discharged to Lake Erie via stormwater runoff, eventually reducing the frequency of bacteria-related beach closures. The city will construct a stormwater pre-treatment system for a discharge point at the west end of the beach, which will consist of a wetlands sand filter that will work in conjunction with a disinfection-based pre-treatment device, designed to reduce bacteria in stormwater before it is discharged into the lake. The sand filter will measure about 30 feet wide and 120 feet long.

Toledo will receive $500,000 to install bioswales, rain gardens, sand filters and vernal ponds to improve water quality at Cullen Park and along the Silver Creek watershed.