Clean Water Management Trust Fund and DENR Combine Efforts in Major Water Quality Protection Proposal
RALEIGH -- The Clean Water Management Trust Fund has committed $39.3 million over a six-year period to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for use in a proposed $274.6 million package to protect and restore North Carolina’s waterways.
On April 27, the fund trustees voted to support the proposal and approved $5,885,549 for fiscal year 1998-99. DENR and the Clean Water Management Trust Fund are preparing a $274,610,165 proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for up to six years of funding to purchase 100,000 acres of agricultural land next to rivers, streams, field ditches and wetlands, and install best management practices (BMPs). Eligible land must be actively and primarily in agricultural use.
The proposal would use $53.6 million in state funds, which include the trust fund commitment, to attract $221 million in federal funds for the effort. The proposal will cover three eastern river basins (Chowan, Tar-Pamlico, and Neuse) and the Jordan Lake watershed, where nutrient runoff from agricultural operations is a prominent water quality problem. Preliminary analyis of the Tar-Pamlico indicates that nutrient loading in the river basin could be reduced by as much as 30 percent over the six-year project life.
“This cooperative initiative between the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and DENR is a tremendous boost for our efforts to clean up our waters,” Governor Hunt said. “The trust fund continues to play a critical role in our statewide water quality improvement efforts, and this decision will allow us to access additional resources to help us get the job done.”
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program will operate like the existing federal Conservation Reserve Program except that, once USDA approves North Carolina’s program, agricultural lands that meet the criteria can voluntarily be enrolled at any time, instead of only during set sign-up periods. USDA will pay for 15-year contracts and 50 percent of the farmers’ costs of installing BMPs. The state is planning to submit its proposal to USDA in May.
The state, which must match at least 20 percent of the total program costs, pays for keeping the land out of production for the years beyond the usual 15-year contract through attractive payment rates to induce more farmers to enroll their environmentally sensitive farmland in either 30-year or permanent easements. The state will pay a higher percentage of the farmers’ costs if forested riparian buffers are installed and easements allow for buffers wider than 100 feet.
The proposal will have a state-funded monitoring and evaluation component and will be implemented by 36 participating Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The state’s proposal includes a mechanism to reimburse districts for some of their costs to administer the CREP.
The $5,885,549 grant awarded this week will be used for purchasing long-term conservation easements, some wetland restoration costs, and 25 percent of the state’s cost of installing BMPs on an estimated 8,000 acres in the first year. The trustees also agreed to fund the state’s administration costs, local administration costs, and the monitoring component for the first year while DENR seeks other sources of funding for those costs for the remainder of the project life.
DENR will present the proposal to the N.C. Soil and Water Conservation Commission on May 13 for its approval to use an estimated $8,840,813 of anticipated state Agriculture Cost Share Program funds as match for both BMPs and local administration. The department’s Wetlands Restoration Program has already committed up to $1.15 million to the project.
The Clean Water Management Trust Fund, created by the 1996 General Assembly, helps finance projects that specifically address water pollution problems and focus on upgrading surface waters, eliminating pollution, and protecting and conserving unpolluted surface waters, including urban drinking water supplies. The fund is also intended to be used to build a network of riparian buffers and greenways for environmental, educational and recreational benefits. It is also expected to enhance wildlife and marine fisheries habitats in the state. The trust fund generates approximately $50 million annually.
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Date Posted: April 29
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