| "We feel like the linchpin is having that person out there." | |
| Greg Nageotte, Ohio Department of Natural Resources |
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Nonpoint source pollution is the cause of 75 percent of water quality degradation in Ohio. To address nonpoint pollution issues more comprehensively, the state is taking a local approach.
The state's Watershed Coordinator Grant Program provides funding and support for local governments, nonprofits, and other organizations to hire a staff person to identify water quality impairments, coordinate area stakeholders, and develop and implement watershed action plans.
"The grants provide the personnel and training, and align funding so the locals can work together to actually do some things that they identify are important," says Greg Nageotte, watershed program manager with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Division of Soil and Water Conservation.
In 1999, the Ohio DNR, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and Ohio State University Extension got together and asked the state legislature to provide funding for the program.
"The legislators were impressed that agencies were working together on a common proposal," Nageotte says. Monies were provided to fund the grants, provide training and technical support to the watershed coordinators, and match federal 319 Clean Water Act grant monies.
The agencies began issuing grants in 2001. They offer watershed organizations up to $35,000 a year, with a 20 percent local match, to pay the salary and benefits of the coordinator position. A goal of the 3- and 4-year grants is "for them to build capacity and ultimately be able to fund the position," he says.
Other program funding has since been added by the Ohio Division of Wildlife, Office of Coastal Management, and Mineral Resources Management.
Each watershed action plan developed by the watershed coordinators and local partners is reviewed and endorsed by Ohio DNR and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Division of Surface Water.
"This ensures that watershed plans from around the state are produced with consistent quality and content," says Matt Adkins, coastal nonpoint source coordinator for the Ohio DNR Division of Soil and Water Conservation. There are 40 endorsed plans so far.
The plans can include best management practices, restoration projects, policy initiatives, resource protection, and education and outreach.
In 2002, the state's watershed planning guidance was revised to require that all coastal area watershed plans include a strategy to implement 6217 Coastal Nonpoint Program management measures. "The 6217 program in Ohio is viable even though the federal funding has been inconsistent," Adkins says.
Nageotte notes that while developing the plans is voluntary, Ohio requires that approved action plans be in place before organizations are eligible for federal and state water quality funding.
"We feel like the linchpin is having that person out there," Nageotte says. "There are a lot of communities who want to do planning and implementation work across jurisdictional boundaries that just don't have the staff or expertise."
He adds, "It serves our state well to have the folks out in the field coordinating activities."
For more information on Ohio's Watershed Coordinator Grant Program, point your browser to www.dnr.state.oh.us/soilandwater/water/watershedprograms/default/tabid/9192/Default.aspx. You may also contact Greg Nageotte at (614) 265-6619, or Greg.Nageotte@dnr.state.oh.us, or Matt Adkins at (419) 609-4102, or Matt.Adkins@dnr.state.oh.us
