SURFACE WATER PROGRAMS
Great Miami River Watershed
Water Quality Credit Trading Program
Project applications due March 26, 2010
The Great Miami River Watershed Water Quality Credit Trading Program is announcing the availability of funds for agricultural management practices that reduce nutrient discharges into rivers and streams in the Great Miami River Watershed. Projects will be chosen for funding by the Trading Program’s Project Advisory Group and be ranked by the lowest cost/per pound of nutrient reduction.
Project Proposals will be accepted from January 29th through March 26, 2010. Applicants will be notified of chosen projects no later than April 30th, 2010 and projects may be implemented as soon as the Project Agreements are executed.
For more information download the Request for Proposals and Project application on the right or contact:
Dusty Hall at dhall@miamiconservancy.org or Sarah Hippensteel at shippensteel@miamiconservancy.org
Background
The Great Miami River Watershed Water Quality Credit Trading program provides funds for reducing pollutant runoff into rivers and streams. This new program could save communities more than $300 million over the next 20 years while significantly improving water quality.
Soil and water conservation district (SWCD) staff – working with local farmers who agree to voluntarily change their farming practices – will submit projects that reduce phosphorus and nitrogen runoff. These pollutants come from fertilizer and manure and can run off the land into our rivers and streams. The projects will generate “credits” that wastewater treatment plants can use to meet regulatory requirements. Funding for the projects will come from the wastewater treatment plants combined with a grant from the USDA Natural Resources Conversation Service – providing more than $1 million for agricultural projects during the program’s first three years.
About 40 percent of Ohio’s rivers and streams do not meet state guidelines for fishing and swimming and other designated uses. As a result, new regulations will require wastewater treatment plants to reduce even more pollutants at the plant. The plants have made great strides in reducing pollutants, and even a slight percent reduction can cost millions of additional dollars. On the other hand, an agricultural project upstream of the plant can generate a far greater reduction at a significantly lower cost – saving the plant and its customers money.
Projects will be reviewed and selected by an advisory committee – not MCD – whose members represent wastewater treatment plants, agricultural producers, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Ohio Water Environment Association, community-based watershed organizations, county soil and water conservation districts, ODNR and the USDA.
In partnership with:
County Soil and Water Conservation Districts
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Inc.
ODNR - Division of Soil and Water Conservation
OEPA – Division of Surface Water
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Cities of Dayton, Englewood, and Union
Butler County Department of Environmental Services
Tri-Cities North Regional Wastewater Authority
For more information please contact Dusty Hall, (937) 223-1278 ext. 3210.
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