MILLBURY — Legislation that would turn parts of the Blackstone Valley into a national park could be filed this year.

During a ceremony yesterday morning at the Asa Waters Mansion on Elm Street, grant awards totaling almost $115,000 to more than a dozen state agencies and organizations were announced. Jan. H. Reitsma, executive director of the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, also said members of Congress met with corridor officials earlier this week to talk again about the possibility of making parts of the corridor into a federal national park.

The federal grants from the corridor commission’s Heritage Partnership Program total almost $174,000 when five grants in Rhode Island are included.

Mr. Reitsma said in an interview after the ceremony that the National Parks Service has been working on a special resource study of the area for about two years. For an area to be considered eligible for national park status, he said, its national significance has to be determined. Also, the uniqueness of an area is considered in deciding whether an area is deemed worthy of becoming a national park. He said the study should be done by this spring and legislation seeking to make parts of the corridor a national park could be filed in Congress this year or next.

He said it was too early to say what portion of the corridor along the Blackstone River, from Worcester to Providence, would be considered for national park status. He added the site of the former Whitin Machine Works could be a candidate, because of the historic significance of the well-known former textile facility.

U.S. Rep Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, who attended the ceremony, said the former Whitin Machine Works produced technology that reached all corners of the world.

Mr. Neal said in an interview he hopes areas along the Blackstone River would become national parks, but legislators from the western part of the country seemed to favor natural parks that emphasize wide open spaces.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Mr. Neal said of the possible national park, although he added it might be years before it happens.

In a related matter, Mr. Reitsma said the corridor commission will decide by the end of the year whether to include Auburn in the heritage corridor. He said federal officials are awaiting more information from the town before making that decision.

A total of 15 grants were awarded to projects in the state yesterday.

“It’s a very happy occasion here today,” Asa Waters Mansion Director Catherine T. Elliott said at the start of yesterday’s 45-minute event.

The Friends of the Asa Waters Mansion received a grant of $13,750 to pay for the preservation and rehabilitation of the southern and eastern exterior of the mansion; while $2,650 was awarded to Waters Farm Preservation Inc. for narrative storyboards explaining facets of the historic Sutton farm.

A grant of $6,000 was given to the Blackstone River Watershed Association in Uxbridge to clean up parts of the Blackstone River and to form a program to make people aware of invasive plants in the watershed and the harm they can cause.

Another $3,000 will be used by the Canal District Alliance Inc. to help pay for free public tours through Worcester’s Canal District, using high school students, in an attempt to encourage curiosity about the district. A grant of an identical amount was given to Preservation Worcester, the Canal District Alliance Inc. and the Canal District Business Alliance, for a program on the history and architecture of the Canal District.

Alternatives Inc. of Whitinsville was awarded $20,000 for work at the Whitin Mill Heritage Museum in the 1826 Paul Whitin Mill at Alternative Unlimited’s Whitin Mill complex.

Tom Saupe, director of community outreach for Alternatives Unlimited, said plans for the museum call to house artifacts from the former Whitin Machine Works. The museum will also feature a social aspect showing how psychiatric and developmentally disabled adults, like those who now receive services at Alternatives Unlimited, were connected to operations at the former textile giant in the middle and late 1800s.

“We’re thrilled,” Mr. Saupe said of yesterday’s award.