Jan. 27, 2007 – The Department of Planning and Natural Resources announced that for fiscal year 2007, federal grant monies are available under Section 319(h) of the Clean Water Act for government agencies and nonprofit organizations to address non-point sources of pollution in the territory. A public meeting is scheduled to explain the grant application process at 1 p.m., on Friday, Feb. 2, in the DPNR-DEP conference room, CFK Airport, on St. Thomas.
There are two different categories of funding available:
· Base (traditional 319 NPS funding for education and demonstration of innovative best management practices)
· Incremental (water quality restoration funding)
Examples of base fundable projects include:
· Demonstration and evaluation of innovative Best Management Practices (BMPs) for activities such as agriculture, storm-water, onsite wastewater systems, etc.
· NPS pollution awareness and educational activities including community based educational effort (storm drain stenciling, public service announcements, etc.)
· Smart Growth and Low Impact Development Demonstration and Education projects
· Monitoring that quantifies mass loading of nutrients, or pathogens from properly functioning conventional onsite wastewater treatment systems to surface waters
· Monitoring that quantifies changes in water quality and aquatic life resulting from urbanization
In contrast to the base funding, the goal of incremental funds is to restore waters impaired by non-point source pollution. An official list of the United States Virgin Island's impaired waters, called the 303(d) list, for a two-year period 2005-2006, can be viewed at www.dpnr.gov.vi/dep. For FY'07, proposals addressing any of these criteria listed below will be given greater priority in the review process:
· Watershed and sub-watershed restoration strategies
· Identification and targeting of critical areas for BMP implementation
· Monitoring for changes in mass loading of pollutants that includes before/after components with adequate baseline period and appropriate features for trend assessment such as upstream/downstream and control/treatment paired watersheds
Guidelines for the development of NPS Pollution Control and Implementation proposals may be obtained at www.dpnr.gov.vi/dep or by contacting Diane Capehart, program administrator (capehart.diane@vidpnr-dep.org) at 773-1082. DPNR will accept proposals for consideration of 319(h) funding for FY'07 between Jan. 30 and March 5 of 2007.
