MassDEP Awards Grants to Fund Three Pollution Assessment Projects

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) officials announced today $80,000 in grants to fund three projects designed to help municipalities and regional planning commissions conduct watershed pollution assessments. Projects selected this year are located in Canton, Provincetown, and Bernardston.

"Water resource protection efforts across the Commonwealth rely on this kind of work as a first step towards the measurement of pollution in our waterways," said MassDEP Commissioner Laurie Burt. "We're pleased to be able to offer some support for communities that want to collect information to help them assess and manage these vital local resources."

The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Watershed Action Plans are developed in partnership between state, federal and local officials to identify environmental issues, prevent pollution, and protect or restore environmental quality. These plans target limited resources where the most environmental benefit can be achieved with available funding.

Since 1998, MassDEP has funded 45 projects with a total of $1,962,657 under this program.
These grants are funded under section 604B of the federal Clean Water Act as part of this year's water quality management planning competitive grant program. Qualified proposals were selected on a competitive basis and funding for the projects will be available this spring.

The three projects selected are:

Stormwater Retrofit Development
Applicant: Town of Canton
Watershed: Neponset River
Grant Funding: $20,000
This project will survey Neponset River sub-watersheds to identify suitable sites for installation of the structural stormwater control and develop conceptual designs for three sites. This project helps to implement recommendations put forth in the Neponset River bacteria monitoring program to identify and mitigate bacteria sources.

Provincetown/Truro estuarine water quality sampling
Applicant: Town of Provincetown 
Watershed: Cape Cod
Grant Funding: $40,000
This project will continue collection of baseline nutrient and bacteria water quality data for a third and final year within Provincetown Harbor, East Harbor Lagoon, Hatches Harbor, and Pamet Harbor in Truro. The project is a collaborative effort between the towns of Provincetown and Truro, the National Park Service, and the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth.

Wellhead Protection Planning for Bernardston
Applicant: Town of Bernardston
Watershed: Connecticut and Deerfield
Grant Funding: $20,000 
This project will implement two high-priority actions listed in the Five Year Watershed Action Plan for the Connecticut River and the wellhead protection planning recommendations in the May 2002 report. Tasks include: develop a wellhead protection plan; evaluate options for ownership or control of the protection zone around the two wells; conduct a parcel-level field inventory of land uses in this so-called Zone I and Zone II areas and prepare maps; develop regulatory and non-regulatory controls to address potential sources of contamination found in the surveys; and prepare zoning bylaw updates to meet regulatory requirements for Zone II delineations as defined in the regulations.

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