The New Jersey Conservation Foundation has received $715,000 in grants to protect water resources in the Pine Barrens, the Delaware Bay watershed and the Highlands. The grants represent the first phase of a $35 million, multi-year initiative by the Philadelphia-based William Penn Foundation to protect and restore drinking water for 15 million people in the Delaware River watershed. The watershed covers more than 13,500 square miles and spans New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware. In South Jersey, the aim is to further protect the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, a vast underground reservoir providing more than 35 billion gallons of clean water annually to residents, farmers, businesses and industry.