The MPCA is now accepting proposals for water resource project grants and loans to be funded through the state Clean Water Partnership Program (CWP) and the Clean Water Fund (CWF). Proposals will be accepted from local governmental units interested in leading a nonpoint source pollution control project for protection or improvement of state water bodies. The MPCA anticipates that about $2 million of grant funds and about $2 million of loan funds will be available this year.

In 1987, the Minnesota Legislature established the CWP Program (Minnesota Statutes §§ 103F.701 through 103F.761) to protect and improve surface and groundwater in Minnesota through financial and technical assistance to local governmental units. The Clean Water Fund, established in 2009, are monies generated from the constitutional amendment sales tax.

There are two types of proposals that will be accepted this round:

1. Resource investigation projects monitor, assess and develop a diagnostic study on the status of a water body, and also develop an implementation plan to protect or restore the water body. Resource investigation projects are only eligible for grant funding.

2. Implementation projects will implement protection or restoration activities, such as best management practices, that are identified by a comprehensive assessment and planning process in the watershed or around the water body of concern. Such assessment must consist of an MPCA-approved CWP or equivalent diagnostic study and implementation plan. Implementation projects are eligible for both grant and/or loan funding.

Priority for funding will be given to protection projects. To be given priority, project proposers will need to document that the waterbody(ies) being addressed are either currently meeting state water quality standards for a particular pollutant to be addressed by the project (e.g., a lake listed as impaired due to mercury can develop a proposal addressing phosphorus levels in the lake), or have not been assessed by the MPCA, but are known to be supporting beneficial uses.  Project proposals must provide measurable project outcomes.

The complete RFP, proposal form, and other information are available here and can also be requested via e-mail.

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