SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The City of Savannah received a $1 million grant to clean polluted areas in the community, also known as “brownfields.”

Savannah is one of four communities in the state to receive this grant through the “EPA Brownfield Revolving Loan” grant program.

Now, various properties throughout the city will be able to go through the cleanup process.

“We’re a famous port city,” Alderman Nick Palumbo, of District 4, said. “We have lots of businesses that come and go. So, we are cleaning up and remediating very old sites. Some of them hundreds of years old where the soil is contaminated.”

Here in Savannah, high-risk areas include the Pennsylvania Avenue Assemblage Property, the CSX Railroad Properties on Wheaton Street, and the Patel Property on West Bay Street.

“There’s so many dangers of what’s left over in the soil,” Palumbo said. “Heavy metals, contaminates that are out there that need to be cleaned up and taken out so that we can have a more productive and healthier city.”

Palumbo also adds that if an individual knows of a polluted site, they should reach out to the City of Savannah so they can begin soil testing and the cleanup process.