Watershed Planning & Source Water Protection Grants: Clean Water Council Update

Minnesota Clean Water Council sent this bulletin at 09/01/2022 07:00 AM CDT

BWSR Makes One Watershed One Plan Grants

Last week, the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) approved five new planning grants to complete comprehensive watershed management plans, also known as One Watershed One Plan (1W1P).

The 1W1P process brings together local stakeholders within a HUC-8 watershed to prioritize projects to meet water quality goals, which would then qualify for Clean Water Fund support over many years. The plans are based on water quality monitoring data, assessments, and strategy development compiled from multiple agencies, which are also supported by the Clean Water Fund.

The five new planning grants go to the following areas (in blue on the map):

Cottonwood-Middle Minnesota
Crow Wing River
Upper Mississippi - Grand Rapids
Rainy River-Rainy Lake/Lower Rainy River
Upper and Lower Red Lake

BWSR also approved a completed 1W1P for Middle-Snake-Tamarac River Watershed Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan. The state is now 90 percent of the way to having full statewide participation in One Watershed One Plan.

BWSR also contracted with MMB’s Management Analysis and Development group to conduct a formal evaluation of the One Watershed, One Plan Program. The report is complete and available on the 1W1P main page of the BWSR website.

You can see the full meeting packet for the August BWSR meeting here.

Upcoming Meetings & Project Updates

Upcoming Meetings

Full Council: The next meeting is Monday, September 19th at the MPCA offices in St. Paul with Webex capability. (Topics: Likely approval of FY24-25 Clean Water Fund recommendations with possible changes after the November budget forecast.) The packets from the August 15th meetings (topics: draft recommendations of Clean Water Fund for FY24-25) have been posted at our web site.

Policy Committee: The next meeting is Friday, September 23rd via Webex only. (Topics: Review of proposed policy statements.) The presentations from the August 26th meeting (topics: review of proposed policy statements; neonicotinoids and pesticides of concern program) have been posted at our web site.

Budget & Outcomes Committee: The next meeting is Friday, October 7th (to avoid the Labor Day weekend). The August 5th and September 9th meeting were cancelled. The packet from the July 8th meeting (topic: Preparing for FY24-25 Clean Water Fund recommendations, presentation and discussion about past capacity funding for soil and water conservation districts) has been posted.

Meetings at MPCA have WebEx capability for on-line viewing. Contact us for details. NOTE: WebEx recordings are moving to a new server. We will only have on-demand access to archived WebEx recordings for the previous six months.

Updates on Other Projects Supported by the Clean Water Fund

From interest to action: Local agencies help farmer with soil-health transition | by #MNLocallyLedConservation | Jul, 2022 | Medium: The Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts features a Meeker County farmer whose farm is enrolled in the MN Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) and who used a MAWQCP grant to plant cover crops.

Stearns County Private Well Nitrate Testing Clinic: Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District held a private well nitrate testing clinic on August 16th in Greenwald. Additional coordination was provided by the Minnesota Well Owners Association, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Ground Water Association.

Other Relevant Water News

PFAS Story on CBS Sunday Morning: CBS included a lengthy feature on Sunday, August 21 on the general nature of PFAS contamination.

Continuous Living Cover Work Plan: The Legislative Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) heard presentations on continuous living cover this week. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture presented on a work plan on developing markets for continuous living cover crops. The Forever Green Initiative also presented on its work plan. The work plans are available here under agenda item 5, and video is available here starting at 1 hour 4 minutes.

Monitoring Little Rock Creek - YouTube: Benton County Soil and Water Conservation District recently posted a quick video on how regular monitoring helps maintain the quality of Little Rock Creek.

Minnesota Water Resources Conference: The agenda is now available and registration is open.

BWSR Accepting Applications for Lawns to Legumes Grants: The Board of Water and Soil Resources is accepting applications for small grants that support pollinators.

Source Water Protection Grants

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has two new grant opportunities that will be available on September 1, 2022 for Source Water Protection. Both grant opportunities are supported by the Clean Water Fund.

Source Water Protection Plan Implementation Grants: Applications for this grant program are accepted between Thursday, September 1, 2022 8:00 a.m. and Friday, September 30, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announces the availability of funding to support the implementation of source water protection plans. Source water protection plans are either 1) wellhead protection plans that have been approved by MDH under requirements of Minnesota Rules Parts 4720. 5100 to 4720.5590, or 2) MDH approved wellhead protection action plans, or 3) surface water intake protection plans that have been endorsed by the MDH.

Source Water Protection Noncommunity Transient Grant: Applications for this grant program are accepted between Thursday, September 1, 2022 8:00 a.m. and Friday, September 30, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announces the availability of funding to support source water protection grants for noncommunity transient public water systems. Noncommunity transient systems are defined as public water systems (PWS) that regularly serves an average of at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days out of the year, but do not serve the same 25 people over that period of time. Source water protection (SWP) activities that are funded under this grant program must support measures that address a potential contamination source that presents a high risk to a source of drinking water as determined by MDH. Additional grant availability notifications will include the SWP Plan Implementation and Competitive grant categories.