The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) received funding from the Clean Water Fund to protect private well users.
Donor Name: Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)
State: Minnesota
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/16/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
A portion of this funding is being offered as grants to promote private well testing among private well users and to provide financial assistance to eligible households to address private well water quality issues.
Priorities
- Collaboration
- This grant prioritizes collaborative efforts. Soil and water conservation districts, environmental services, public health, water testing laboratories, medical professionals, schools, and other organizations can all help protect private well users’ health.
- Infants and Children and Low-Income Households
- This grant prioritizes efforts that target households with infants and children and low-income households.
- Health Equity
- This grant prioritizes proposals that engage diverse groups of private well users. Diverse groups include:
- Racial and ethnic communities, including American Indians
- People for whom English is not their first language
- LGBTQI communities
- Disability status
- Veterans
- Home ownership vs. rental status
- Socio-economic status
- Diversity of ages
Funding Information
Each entity will have the opportunity to apply for up to $100,000.
Project Period
The estimated grant start date is July 1, 2024, and the end date is May 1, 2027.
Eligible Expenses
Proposals must include all of the following elements:
- Conduct outreach to diverse groups of private well users about private well testing.
- Provide low- or no-cost private well testing for five common contaminants within a defined area.
- Establish a process for collecting water quality testing data including the corresponding well ID number or location if available.
- Provide financial assistance and technical assistance to eligible households* on private wells to address an arsenic, coliform bacteria, lead, manganese, and/or nitrate water quality issue. Technical assistance will be provided to private well owners with the information necessary to make decisions on treatment methods.
Financial assistance to address a contaminant issue is limited to eligible households. Eligible households must meet the following criteria:
- The household’s main source of drinking water in their primary residence is from private well water, AND
- The well water has at least one contaminant concentration over the EPA Maximum Concentration Level that is not currently being mitigated by a treatment system
- Nitrate at or above 10 milligrams per liter
- Arsenic at or above 2 micrograms per liter with a priority of wells above 1
- Any detection of coliform bacteria
- Any detection of lea
- Manganese at or above 100 micrograms per liter, AND the household meets income/financial assistance criteria defined by the grantee.
Allowable Expenses Include (but are not limited to):
- Staff costs to plan and implement the program.
- Laboratory costs associated with private well water analysis for all five contaminants, including shipping costs – Must use a laboratory accredited by the MDH Environmental Accreditation Program.
- Expenses to fully or partially cover (up to the grantee’s discretion).
- Costs associated with purchasing and installing treatment for eligible private well users to address the contaminant(s) found to be over the maximum contaminant level.
- Costs associated with repairing a well to address nitrate and/or coliform bacteria concentration over the maximum contaminant level.
- Costs associated with constructing a new well to address nitrate and/or coliform bacteria concentration over the maximum contaminant level.
- Reimbursement of in-state travel expenses (mileage).
- Program promotion.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must be a local, regional, or tribal unit of government working in at least one of the eligible jurisdictions.
- For Phase I grants all areas of the state are eligible.
- For Phase II grants applicants must have received a Phase I grant previously to be eligible. This includes Olmsted Soil and Water Conservation District and Horizon Public Health.
For more information, visit MDH.
