November 21, 2011

1) EPA Requests Proposals for Urban Waters Small Grants
2) Success Spotlight: Duckpuddle Pond-Implementing Urban Best Management Practices Improves Water Quality

1) EPA Requests Proposals for Urban Waters Small Grants
EPA will award at least $1.8 million in funding for projects across the country to help restore urban waters by improving water quality and supporting community revitalization. The goal of the urban waters small grants are to fund research, studies, training, and demonstration projects that will advance the restoration of urban waters by improving water quality through activities that also support community revitalization and other local priorities such as public health, social and economic opportunities, general livability and environmental justice for residents.

Examples of projects eligible for funding include:

Education and training for water quality improvement or green infrastructure jobs
Public education about ways to reduce water pollution
Local water quality monitoring programs
Engaging diverse stakeholders to develop local watershed plans
Innovative projects that promote local water quality and community revitalization goals

Information about urban waters small grants including the Request for Proposal (RFP) and registration links for the webinars is available at http://www.epa.gov/urbanwaters/funding. Questions can be submitted in writing via e-mail to urbanwaters@epa.gov and addressed to Ji-Sun Yi, by January 16, 2012. EPA expects to award the grants in Summer 2012.

EPA's Urban Waters program supports the goals and principles of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership, a partnership of 11 federal agencies working to reconnect urban communities with their waterways. For information on the Urban Waters Federal Partnership, visit http://urbanwaters.gov

2) Success Spotlight: Duckpuddle Pond-Implementing Urban Best Management Practices Improves Water Quality
EPA's Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 319 Program provides funding for restoration of nonpoint source-impaired water bodies. Success stories are posted at: http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/success319/. This week's success spotlight shines on

Duckpuddle Pond in Maine. Duckpuddle Pond (242 acres) captures drainage from an 8.5-square-mile area in the Pemaquid River watershed, near Maine's southern coast in Lincoln County. Historically, stormwater runoff carried excessive amounts of phosphorus to Duckpuddle Pond, which was placed in 1990 on Maine's impaired waters list because of poor water quality, with recurring algal blooms.

With support from EPA's CWA 319 funds and those of local, state and other partners, Knox-Lincoln County Soil and Water Conservation District implemented two projects to reduce sediment and phosphorous inflows and reduce polluted runoff from a nearby farm's livestock feeding areas and silage bunker. The conservation district also worked with local municipalities to reduce erosion along roads. Cross-drainage culverts and riprap ditch linings were installed, roads were upgraded and a failing stream crossing was repaired. Water quality has improved, and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection removed Duckpuddle Pond from the state's impaired waters list in 2010.

For more information, visit:http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/success319/me_duck.cfm