The Clean Water Council was created through the Clean Water Legacy Act (Minnesota Statutes Chapter 114D), which was signed into law on June 2nd, 2006. The Council’s role is to advise the Legislature and the Governor on the administration and implementation of the Clean Water Legacy Act. A large part of this work is establishing budget recommendations for how Clean Water Fund dollars should be used. The Council also includes policies for clean water and progress on Clean Water Fund activities in their Biennial Report.
Included in this post:
- BWSR: Showing Clean Water Funds at Work
- Smart Salting Update
- Project Priority Lists – Intended Use Plans
- New Legislative Report on Septic Systems
BWSR: Showing Clean Water Funds at Work
A new page on the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) website called Your Clean Water Funds at Work was published this week. The page showcases a selection of Clean Water Fund stories and outcomes, showing how the Clean Water Fund is making a difference in communities across the state, including in and around Anoka County. Included on the page are a variety of articles and videos, with a mini-map next to each story on the main page to quickly identify the area of the state benefiting from a particular project. These stories provide a closer look at the farm families, local governments, and many stakeholders who leverage the Clean Water Fund to work towards goals of increased water quality and high value conservation. Click here to visit the webpage.
Smart Salting Update
A large initiative that uses the Clean Water Fund is the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) Smart Salting program. The MPCA sent their most recent Minnesota Smart Salting Update bulletin out yesterday morning. Included in the update are the following topics:
- 2021 MPCA Smart Salting Certification Trainings
- New MPCA Smart Salting Training promotional video
- Need help with chloride reduction efforts? Consider a GreenCorps member
- Save the Date! Salt Symposium in August
For more information on these topics, click here to read the bulletin.
Project Priority Lists – Intended Use Plans
An announcement was posted in a recent edition of the weekly Clean Water Council Update that submissions are currently being accepted to place public wastewater, stormwater, and drinking water infrastructure improvement projects on the 2022 Project Priority Lists (PPL) and Intended Use Plans (IUP) for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs). Projects must be listed on the appropriate PPL as the first step to be eligible for the SRFs or Clean Water Legacy Fund programs. System owners must request that their projects be placed on the appropriate 2022 IUP if they expect to be ready for construction and are seeking SRF financing in state fiscal year 2022 (July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022). Click here for more information, deadlines (coming up as soon as March 5th), and submission instructions.
New Legislative Report on Septic Systems
The MPCA has been distributing money from the Minnesota Clean Water Fund (CWF) for subsurface sewage treatment systems (SSTS) purposes for 9 years, and these CWF appropriations are divided into 3 grant opportunities for which county SSTS programs are eligible: 1) SSTS Base Grants; 2) SSTS Low-Income Grants; 3) SSTS Incentive Grants. Additionally, a small amount of CWF money is made available each year to help counties pay for advances inspection and design work required by certain types of SSTS projects. The MPCA recently submitted a report to the Legislature on CWF appropriations for SSTS for fiscal years 2013-2021. You can read the report on this page (report is entitled “Clean Water Fund appropriations for subsurface sewage treatment (SSTS)”).
Learn more about the Clean Water Council and the Clean Water Fund on the Clean Water Council webpage.