There are multiple funding avenues outside of self funding,
that offer financial incentives or assistance for deploying storm water
managements systems on your land or in
your municipality. Sources include:
·
Federal grants
·
State Grants
·
Partnering with Non for profits
·
Maryland's storm water credit system
·
Private Public Partnerships
Recommend utilizing infrastructure that is in place or
coordinating efforts with a with a local NGO like the Monocacy and
Catoctin Watershed Alliance, the
Interstate commission on the Potomac River Basin, or the Chesapeake Bay
foundation to get the most out of
restoration/ conservation efforts.
Funding sources include:
Federal Agencies
USDA
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and Conservation Reserve program has conserved over 155 thousand acres in the
program and over $91 M in payments issued since inception. The programs focus
on stream and wetland conservation and improvements on agricultural lands:
·
Stream Bank Fencing
·
Native tree and shrub Planting
·
Wetland Restoration
·
10-15 year lease by program after implementation
·
Up to 90% re-imbursement for eligible costs for
established practices
·
Multiple incentive payments with matching funds
from states
Use of a buffer strip can annually prevent up to 2.5 tons of
soil, 6.4 lbs of nitrogen, and 1.1 lbs of Phosphorous per acre from entering the watershed system.
State Programs
Pennsylvania Growing Green Fund
State funded environmental
restoration fund, re-authorized annually for farmland preservation, state park
improvements, and sewer system upgrades
Watershed Grants
The Environmental Stewardship and
Watershed Protection Act authorized the Department of Environmental Protection to
allocate grants for:
·
Acid mine drainage
·
Abandoned oil and Gas wells
·
Watershed restoration and protection plans
Maryland 319 grants
Reduce or
remove non-point source water quality impairments
·
Planning, design, construction, monitoring and
analysis
·
Focus on quantitative and measurable
improvements in water quality
Non for profit groups
NFWF
Environmental Solution for communities Initiative
- · Supports sustainable agricultural activities
- · Conservation of water resources
- · Improving water quality
- · Investment in green infrastructure
Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program
·
Riparian habitat restoration
- · Conservation Education
- · Community partnerships with measurable benefits
Un-Assessed Waters Program
- · Works with university’s and non for profits to assess streams for eastern trout habitat in Pennsylvania
- · Provides funds for investigation and restoration
Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund
·
Small watershed grant
·
Stream restoration
·
Nutrient reduction
Chesapeake Bay Trust
Watershed
grant program.
Instead of pushing our point source polluter to reach for
the upper limits of technically feasible waste removal, it may be more
economical to promote a public private partnership between them and upstream
non point sources to implement green infrastructure to remove a higher amount
of pollutants from the system. The Maryland storm water credit system and
Public Private partnerships take this approach.
The state of Maryland has set up a nutrient trading program
with in a watershed in the state where point source producers can purchase
credits form either other point source producers or non-point sources that have
reduced their discharge through use of certified BMP’s below their discharge
allotments. It does not appear as if
the market place is live just yet, but
it is a interesting development.
In one of my previous post I had linked info on Public
–Private Partnerships where
municipalities or counties partner with private entity’s to implement nutrient
reduction as a trade off for other services.
There were examples in Prince Georges county Maryland and with DC water
making trade offs with in the same watershed.
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