Deadline: 08-Oct-2024
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a call for proposals aimed at Improving Water Quality Insights through Monitoring Activities.
Scope of Work
- The goal of this funding opportunity is to support water quality studies that are useful to stakeholders in decision making for their community. This funding opportunity is intended to generate applications for water quality monitoring projects in eligible Gulf Coast counties that improve understanding of water quality issues.
- Applications must:
- Determine data gaps where water quality monitoring data are limited or lacking
- How’s my Waterway
- Gulf of Mexico Open Data Platform (GOMOD)
- Gulf Coast Monitoring and Assessment Portal (CMAP)
- Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS)
- Perform water quality monitoring in water bodies in the Gulf Coast Region; examples are:
- Physical assessments (temperature, pH, DO, conductivity, odor, sediment, and turbidity)
- Nutrient assessments (nitrogen, phosphorous)
- Biological assessments (bacterial, viral, algae/algal indicators, aquatic life)
- Chemical assessments (mineral, metals, pesticides)
- Leverage or complement existing or ongoing water quality monitoring efforts
- Describe how the data will be utilized and how activities support existing monitoring efforts or plans
- Potential monitoring efforts: Federal, state, local, and/or non-governmental organization level
- Potential water quality plans: Comprehensive Conservation Management Plans, watershed plans, or data management plans
- Ensures data comparability/compatibility among leveraged efforts
- Describe how the data will be utilized and how activities support existing monitoring efforts or plans
- Determine data gaps where water quality monitoring data are limited or lacking
Funding Information
- EPA expects to provide approximately $3.75 million for four to six projects. Proposed project periods may be up to three years. The maximum amount of federal funds that will be awarded for any project in this funding opportunity is $750,000.
- Please note, however, that the specified maximum amount of $750,000 that will be awarded for an individual project establishes a per-project limit for the EPA funding; applications seeking EPA funding in excess of that amount will be rejected. In addition, an application for a multi-phase project will be treated as a request for the full amount for all phases. If that combined amount exceeds the specified maximum, the application will be rejected.
Environmental Results
- In addition to the information requested for environmental results in the project narrative guidance, the applicant must include:
- Outputs as a result of training, education, monitoring, surveys, demonstrations and other activities authorized by CWA 104(b)(3). These must include:
- Identification and quantification of water quality parameters in eligible water bodies in Gulf Coast Region.
- Examples of water quality parameters that could be demonstrated in monitoring activities include but are not limited to nutrients, metals, biologicals, chemicals, turbidity (and/or total suspended solids), dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature.
- Report on water quality data use, data uploads, data publications, etc developed from this project.
- Identification and quantification of water quality parameters in eligible water bodies in Gulf Coast Region.
- Outcomes as a result of training, education, monitoring, surveys, demonstrations and other activities authorized by CWA 104(b)(3) must include:
- Water quality and/or understanding of water quality conditions are improved (report number of water segments or water bodies).
- Data are utilized for future water quality improvement projects or programs.
- Additional outputs and outcomes accomplished as a result of project activities should also be included.
- Outputs as a result of training, education, monitoring, surveys, demonstrations and other activities authorized by CWA 104(b)(3). These must include:
Eligibility Criteria
- In accordance with Assistance Listing 66.475, governmental entities, including state agencies, interstate agencies, Indian tribes, local governments, institutions of higher learning, and nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply for funding under this NOFO. School districts or high schools designated as one of the eligible entities above are eligible.
- An intertribal consortium must meet the definition of eligibility in the Environmental Program Grants for Tribes Final Rule, at 40 CFR 35.504 and be a nonprofit organization as defined in 2 CFR 200.1.
- Nonprofit organizations that are not exempt from taxation under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code must submit other forms of documentation of nonprofit status such as certificates of incorporation as nonprofit under state or tribal law.
- For-profit organizations are not eligible entities for this funding opportunity. Additionally, nonprofit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.