The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources is accepting applications for its Wellhead Protection Partner Grants to provide funding to local governments for establishing perpetual or longterm protection of wellhead protection areas where state-held easements are not viable.
Donor Name: Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
State: Minnesota
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 11/30/2022
Size of the Grant: up to $2,000,000
Details:
The Clean Water Fund was established to implement part of Article XI, Section 15 of the Minnesota Constitution, with the purpose of protecting, enhancing, and restoring water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams in addition to protecting groundwater and drinking water sources from degradation. The appropriation language governing the use of funds for Wellhead Protection Partner Grants is in Laws of Minnesota 2019, 1st Special Session, Ch. 2, Art. 2, Sec 7(g) as well as similar language in 2021.
Funding Information
As of September 2021, up to $2,000,000 is currently available. Final funding decisions will be dependent on funds available.
Eligibility Criteria
As defined in the Wellhead Partner Protection Partner Grant Policy, eligible applicants include local governments including:
- cities,
- townships,
- counties,
- rural water districts,
- soil and water conservation districts,
- watershed districts,
- joint powers authorities or other governmental units with authority sufficient to meet the program’s protection requirements and approved by BWSR will be eligible to apply for Wellhead Protection Partner Grants.
Project Eligibility
- Projects must meet the following criteria:
- Land offered for protection must be within a delineated Wellhead Protection Area (WHPA) mapped in a Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) approved Wellhead Protection Plan.
- Vulnerability of the drinking water supply within the delineated WHPA must be designated as very high or high by MDH (minimum of 50% of the land proposed for protection is within the area is designated as very high and/or high vulnerability.
- Priority will be given to projects that meet any of the following criteria:
- Completed a drinking water protection plan that contains implementation activities that achieve longterm protection.
- A WHPA that have been designated as Mitigation Level One or Two as identified in the Minnesota Groundwater Protection Rule.
- Monitoring has shown a nitrate concentration of more than 5.4 mg/l in any public water supply well.
- Land offered for long-term protection has an expiring Conservation Reserve Program contract.
For more information, visit MBWSR.
