DOH Grants Available for Rehabilitating Local Watersheds

Rep. Shimabukuro –

...My parents are residents of your district, and...The purpose of my email is to mention to you that our program is tasked with...rehabilitating local watersheds, using federal grant funding under the EPA’s Clean Water Act (s. 319(h)).

We repackage the annual grant and disburse accordingly throughout the State, to local non-profit groups. However, there are some restrictions to the grant, including 1:1 matching requirements, as well as the need for demonstrable results in water quality improvements (i.e., simply cleaning up the banks of a stream would not suffice, unless removing trash shows that sedimentation, nitrogen loads, etc. is reduced in the water).

We recently posted an RFP on our website (link below), and I ask that you pass that link to... non-profit groups that you feel could potentially benefit if their proposal is approved.

Please note, while we are emphasizing funding projects in priority watersheds throughout the State (unfortunately, there are no priority watersheds in the Wai`anae and Makaha Valleys), we are willing to fund any project in any location, assuming that it meets our other requirements as outlined in the RFP.

Should the timeline be too restrictive (the RFP closes on May 18), we can store the contact information and directly contact the organizations when the next RFP is posted (possibly in the Fall of this year, definitely FY10 next Spring).

Here is the link:
http://hawaii.gov/health/about/admin/health/environmental/water/cleanwater/prc/index.html

Thank you for your time,
Michael Burke
Grants Management Specialist
Polluted Runoff Control Program
Clean Water Branch, State of Hawai`i Department of Health

808/586-7774
808/586-4352 (Fax)