The Coastal Pollutant Remediation Grant Program

The Coastal Pollutant Remediation (CPR) Grant Program was established in 1996 by the Massachusetts Legislature to help coastal communities identify and improve water quality impaired by nonpoint source pollution. The CPR program provides funding to municipalities located in the Massachusetts Coastal Watershed to assess and remediate stormwater pollution from paved surfaces or to design and construct boat waste pumpout facilities. Since 1996, more than $5 million in CPR grants have been awarded.

• The town of Cohasset will design and install bioretention systems throughout the James Brook and Jacob’s Meadow watershed to improve water quality of Cohasset Cove and Harbor. This work is part of a comprehensive effort to alleviate water quality and flooding issues that includes the Jacob’s Meadow salt marsh restoration project, a priority project of CZM’s Wetland Restoration Program.
• The town of Provincetown will design and construct a vessel sewage pump-out facility to serve commercial and recreational vessels in Provincetown Harbor. This project is essential for designation of an NDA in Cape Cod Bay.
• The town of Duxbury will complete the final phase of an effort to curtail bacterial contamination to the Nook, a portion of Kingston Bay that is currently closed to shellfishing. At the completion of this project, CZM will encourage the town and the Division of Marine Fisheries to reassess the shellfish growing area.
• The town of Dennis will design and construct a vessel sewage pump-out facility at Sesuit Harbor. This project is essential for designation of an NDA in Cape Cod Bay.
• The town of Brewster will design and permit a series of best management practices to mitigate contaminated storm water discharges to Stony Brook, the Paines Creek estuary, and Cape Cod Bay.
• The town of Weymouth will identify and design a series of stormwater management retrofits for Herring Brook, to mitigate impacts to downstream shellfish beds and improve habitat for fish that migrate and spawn in the Herring Brook watershed.
• The town of Bourne will design and construct storm water best management practices to reduce bacterial contamination of Conservation Pond – the suspected cause of shellfish closures in Hen Cove, Buzzards Bay. At the completion of this project, CZM will encourage the town and Division of Marine Fisheries to reassess the shellfish growing area.

Eligible Projects

Eligible municipalities are those located in the Greater Massachusetts Coastal Watershed, which encompasses 220 cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts.

Grant funds can be used to design and/or construct roadway-related pollution remediation systems and boat pumpout facilities. Example projects include filtering runoff through subsoil leaching galleys, utilizing new technologies for particle separation and filtration, and implementation of alternative/innovative stormwater management BMPs (e.g., Low Impact Design, see: http://www.mass.gov/czm/smartgrowth/index.htm) that reduce contaminants where they are generated.

To view samples of successful applications for CPR funding, select the links below:

• Implementation Project - Provincetown Harbor Stormwater Mitigation Project, Phase II, 2006 (PDF, 153 KB)
• Assessment Project - Marshfield, Stormwater Management Watershed Assessment for Tributary to the South River, 2004 (PDF, 4.4 MB)

Below is a list of some representative CPR projects, or see a list of the 2007 CPR Grant Awards.

• In 1998, the Town of Bourne was awarded $45,350 for the installation of two vessel pumpout facilities at the Parker and Kingman Marinas that helped to reduce the discharge of sewage to Buzzards Bay. The availability and use of vessel pumpout facilities such as these were a factor in the recent designation of Buzzards Bay as a No Discharge Area (NDA).
  
• In 1999, the Town of Rockport was awarded $34,800 for the installation of two proprietary technology Best Management Practices (BMPs) to remove sediment from stormwater that was being discharged to the Saratoga Creek Marsh. Deposit of sediment in the marsh, the only one in Rockport, was leading to the invasion of Phragmities (common reed), which was crowding out the native vegetation and degrading the habitat. This municipal habitat protection initiative has dramatically reduced the impact of stormwater to the marsh.
  
• In 2001, the City of Revere was awarded $30,000 to investigate the sources of stormwater pollution to Trifone Brook, a tributary to the Rumney Marsh Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). This pollution has been responsible for shellfish closures in the estuary. As part of this project, a preliminary engineering design was developed. The design was used to support a subsequent application to install a structure that will reduce or eliminate this pollution, directly benefiting water quality, habitat, and economic potential of the area.
• In 2005, the Town of Marion was awarded $150,443 to prepare final engineering plans and install best management practices for the Front Street and Marion Village sub-drainage system to remediate high bacterial counts causing subsequent shellfish closures. The town will replace faulty catchbasins, install an oil and sediment separator for pretreatment purposes, and construct four bioretention cells. The proposed stormwater treatment system follows low impact development principles (functional greenspace, minimizing runoff and maximizing infiltration, and employing natural processes for water quality improvement).

Grant Cycle

CZM will issue a Request for Responses (RFR) for CPR in the summer each year. When issued, the RFR, with an enclosed application, is posted on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Procurement Access & Solicitation System, at www.comm-pass.com.

In addition, pre-RFR informational meetings are held prior to the issuance of the RFR (typically in June) to discuss potential proposals. Potential respondents are encouraged to attend the Pre-RFR meeting, particularly since CZM can only offer general information to respondents while the RFR is posted.

Contact Information

For additional information about the program, please refer to Coastal Pollution Remediation (CPR) Program Questions and Answers (PDF, 142K) or contact Jay Baker, Water Quality Program Coordinator, at (617) 626-1204, email jason.baker@state.ma.us. With questions regarding potential projects or proposal development contact Jay, or the CZM Regional Coordinator (see the CZM Regions page for contact information). In addition, you may contact the Massachusetts Community Assistance Partnership (MassCap) representative Larry Boutiette at Larry.Boutiette@ma.usda.gov. (MassCAP is an initative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service.)

More on Massachusetts Coastal Nonpoint Source Control Plan

Grants issued under the Coastal NPS Grant Program, as well as the Coastal Pollutant Remediation grant program (CPR), serve to implement portions of the Massachusetts Coastal Nonpoint Source Control Plan (PDF Version). The Plan includes measures to address nonpoint source pollution problems from each of the following sources: urban areas, marinas and recreational boating, agriculture, forestry, hydromodification, wetlands, and riparian areas. The primary goal of both of CZM's grant programs is to improve coastal water quality by reducing or eliminating nonpoint sources of pollution through measures and strategies consistent with the Coastal Nonpoint Source Control Program.