Grants

Through EQIP, NRCS provides agricultural producers and non-industrial forest managers with financial resources and one-on-one help to plan and implement improvements, or what NRCS calls conservation practices.  Using these practices can lead to cleaner water and air, healthier soil and better wildlife habitat, all while improving agricultural operations.  Through EQIP, you can voluntarily implement conservation practices, and NRCS co-invests in these practices with you.

The Department of Environmental Protection will be accepting applications for EPA Section 319 Watershed Restoration and Planning Grants. The purpose of these grants is to provide funding to implement nonpoint source management plans and activities identified in Pennsylvania’s Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) watersheds. Implementation activities must address specific sources of nonpoint source pollution identified by the 2019 – 2024 Pennsylvania Nonpoint Source Management Plan.

Objectives:

• Reduce AMD-related iron, aluminum, and acidity pollutant loads.
• Reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollutant loads.
  
  • Implement stream restoration, bank stabilization, and/or stormwater management projects.
  • Plant, maintain, and protect riparian forest buffers.
  • Implement agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs).

This year's grant also provides for funding to develop Watershed Implementation Plans in Hydrologic Unit Code 12 (HUC12) watersheds within Environmental Justice areas.

In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are 10-15 years in length. The long-term goal of the program is to re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat.

The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), administered jointly with the PA Department of Environmental Protection, provides a resource for financing various public drinking water systems (including systems owned by for-profit entities and not-for-profit entities) for expenditures for projects which will facilitate compliance with national and state drinking water regulations or otherwise advance the health-protection objectives of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving funds are funded by federal capitalization grants and State matching funds.