Upcoming Meetings:
Feb. 5 – Tech Track work group, 10 am – 12 pm, Dept. of Ecology, 3rd floor conf. room, 4601 N. Monroe St., Spokane (contact lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com for call in info.)
Feb. 6 – TSCA work group conference call, 10 am, 641-715-0857, 723394#
Feb. 12 – Education & Outreach work group meeting, 10 am at the Spokane Reg. Health District (contact lara@whitebluffsconsulting.com for call in info.)
Feb. 27 – SRRTTF meeting, 8:30 am – 12 pm, Spokane County Water Resource Center, 1004 N. Freya St
Ecology has announced the availability of the State Fiscal Year 2020 (SFY20) Draft Funding Offer List and Intended Use Plan (Draft List) for public review and comment. The Draft List describes how to use state and federal dollars to fund water quality improvement projects across the state. In addition, the Draft List and other SFY20 Funding Cycle information is available at the Water Quality Grants webpage. Money is made available each year from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, Stormwater Financial Assistance Program, Centennial Clean Water Program, and Clean Water Act Section 319 program. This year approximately $183 million is proposed for funding from a request of $338.5 million (statewide).
The Spokane area projects
include:
- Approximately $10 million for wastewater facility funding
- Almost $6.3 million for stormwater
- $22.5 Non point
How to comment: A public review and comment period on the Draft List is open until 5:00 pm on Feb. 18, 2019. They will hold a public information meeting to present the Draft List and discuss the project evaluation and Funding Cycle process.
Informational Meeting
Feb. 6 at 1:00 pm
Pierce County Library
3005 112th Street East, Tacoma, WA.
Please email or mail comments on the Draft List to:
Daniel Thompson
Department of Ecology
Water Quality Program – Financial Management Section
P.O. Box 47600
Olympia, WA 98504-7600
Email: daniel.thompson@ecy.wa.gov
Phone: 360-407-6510
Next Steps: They will respond to all comments received during the comment period when the Final List is published. They expect to publish the Final List by June 28 after approval of the state’s 2019-2021 Biennial Budget. All commenters will be notified by email when the Final List is published.
How does this apply to the Task Force? Governments and nonprofits (501(c)3 organizations) are eligible to apply for different types of funding. Background: Ecology rolls all of its water quality funding into a combined program in order to simplify the process for everyone.
The annual cycle starts in the summer (August) with informational meetings. Here is information to help prepare for the next cycle: https://ecology.wa.gov/About-us/How-we-operate/Grants-loans/Find-a-grant-or-loan/Water-Quality-Combined-Funding-Program
Many of the Task Force members organizations have applied for and received funding for clean water projects (point and nonpoint) in the past: City of Spokane, Spokane County, the Lands Council, Conservation Districts, etc.). Individually, these projects have supported the work of the Task Force by putting in infrastructure or addressing nonpoint source pollution, education and outreach.
