Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued the following announcement on March 22.
Do your part on the 26th anniversary of World Water Day by applying for a Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) grant or loan. With more than 3,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, 76,000 miles of rivers and stream, 11,000 inland lakes and 6.5 million acres of wetland, there’s a body of water near you that can benefit.
In 2018 alone, MDEQ staff visited 740 different surface water sites to assess Michigan’s water quality, evaluating chemical constituents in water and bottom sediments, bacteria, biological condition, and contaminants in fish and wildlife.
But MDEQ can’t do it alone. MDEQ seeks to form partnerships with interested groups and local community organizations to achieve the mutual goal of protecting and enhancing environmental quality in Michigan, for the benefit of current and future generations.
In fiscal year 2018 the MDEQ provided roughly $4.3 million in funding for nine non-point source grants to implement approved watershed management plans that generated an additional $2.6 million in local match. These projects will result in the installation of green infrastructure to control stormwater discharges, best management practices to control agricultural runoff, repair or replace failing septic systems, stabilize eroding streambanks, and permanently protect priority areas with conservation easements.
The MDEQ also provided $620,000 for five projects aimed at identifying and controlling aquatic invasive species. This included working with other Great Lakes states to develop early detection and response protocols an initiative designed to help MiCorp volunteer monitoring groups obtain aquatic invasive species decontamination kits.
An additional $470,000 in grants went to four water quality projects to develop or update watershed management plans. A further $230,000 in grant funding went to E. coli monitoring last year.
The MDEQ’s Drinking Water Revolving Fund Loans provides low-interest loans to water suppliers to finance the construction (including upgrades and expansions) of public drinking water systems. The program’s overarching goal is to assist water suppliers in providing safe, high quality drinking water. Any water supplier who owns and operates a community or non-community (if operated as a non-profit entity) water supply is eligible. No local match is required.
Source Water Protection Grants provide matching funds to public water supply systems for the development and implementation of a source water protection program to help prevent drinking water sources from becoming contaminated. These funds can be used to develop a Surface Water Intake Protection Program for systems utilizing surface water, or to develop a Wellhead Protection Program for those systems that use groundwater sources. The program’s goal is to provide incentives and financial assistance for the development and implementation of source water protection programs to facilitate the management of a public water system source water protection area to reduce the risk of contamination to the water supply. A 50 percent local match is required for these grants.
State Revolving Fund (SRF) also provides low-interest loans for water pollution control projects. The program is designed to assist municipalities in funding wastewater treatment system improvements, storm water treatment projects, and nonpoint source pollution control projects. Any city, village, township, county, or related authority as defined in Section 5301(h) of Part 53, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994 is eligible. No local match is required.
For more information on upcoming funding opportunities, join the MDEQ Grant and Loan Opportunities notifications list.
Original source can be found here.
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