Enabling Source Water Protection Project Team Holds Webinar on Non-Traditional Sources of Funding

On Thursday, October 11th, the Enabling Source Water Protection project team hosted a webinar on Non-traditional Sources of Funding for Source Water Protection.  This was the third in the series of five free webinars from the Enabling Source Water Protection team, led by The Trust for Public Land and the Smart Growth Leadership Institute, with support from the River Network and ASDWA.  During the webinar, participants learned about:

• New Hampshire’s Water Supply Land Protection Grant Program that provides funding from the state’s Department of Transportation (through an MOU) for land trusts and municipalities to protect critical lands through purchase or conservation easement.  This funding was provided to protect both ground and surface water sources from runoff created by the construction of a new highway.
• EPA and state guideline flexibilities for using Clean Water Act 319 Supplemental Environmental Project Funds for source water protection, including the ability to create new funding programs with monies from enforcement penalties.
• North Carolina’s efforts to engage CWSRF staff and get source water projects on the state clean water program’s Intended Use Plan (IUP).  This effort has succeeded in getting wastewater utilities to include source water protection elements in their loan applications by offering priority points.
• A research project by the Trust for Public Land to investigate the use of CWSRF funding for land conservation in eight states, including stimulating demand for these types of loans.

For more information and to register for the next two webinars on local planning and economic strategies for source water protection, go to:   www.asdwa.org/swwebinars.

To view the presentation and videos from this and the previous two webinars on GIS tools and collaboration, plus get more information about each of the eight state projects, visit the project web site at www.landuseandwater.org.  For questions, please contact Kelley Hart at Kelley.Hart@tpl.org or 415-800-5201.