AMES (AP) — Iowa State University will receive $600,000 in grants to work on projects that reduce upstream pollutants that contribute to the so-called Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

The grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will go toward three watershed projects designed to reduce the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that ultimately reaches the gulf, resulting in an oxygen-depleted zone that kills marine life. The Iowa State projects will focus on the Raccoon River, Walnut Creek and Boone River watersheds.

Iowa State is among 10 organizations receiving more than $3.7 million in EPA grants to improve water quality.