Runoff Grants, 2006 Water Quality
Report to Congress

The WDNR´s runoff management grant programs include the Priority Watershed/Lake Program, the Targeted Runoff Management (TRM) Grant Program, and the Urban Nonpoint Source and Storm Water Management (UNPS) Grant Program. Each of the grant programs offers cost-sharing assistance to local units of government who, in turn, assist landowners in the implementation and installation of BMPs to control nonpoint source pollution. The three programs are described in further detail below.

Priority Watershed/Lake Program

The Priority Watershed/Lake Program provides financial assistance to local units of government in selected watersheds to address land management activities, which contribute to urban and rural runoff. The WDNR issues grants for the implementation of watershed/lake projects through a cost-share approach. The grantees use the funds to reimburse costs to landowners for voluntarily installing BMPs. From the start of the program in 1978 through December 31, 2005, approximately $193 million in cost-share grants has been provided to the priority watershed/lake projects.

Since the program began, 86 of the state´s watersheds and lakes were designated as priority watershed or lake projects. Twenty-nine of the 86 projects are currently active and in the implementation phase. All of the remaining projects are completed. In 1997, the Wisconsin legislature significantly changed the direction of the state´s runoff grant management program. The 1997 Wisconsin Act 27 placed the Priority Watershed/Lake Program, into a multi-year phase-out period. Funding for ongoing watershed and lake projects will continue through 2009, and no additional projects will be started.

Priority Watershed/Lake Project goals focus on water quality improvements or protection resulting from reductions in pollutant levels delivered to streams, rivers, and lakes. Each year, project grantees submit reports to the WDNR, showing progress made towards meeting pollutant reduction goals in the watersheds/lakes. For a given project, information may be submitted as reductions in sediment/soil loss from uplands, streams, gullies, and phosphorus reductions from barnyards and croplands. Other projects are focused on protecting shoreline and habitat in a watershed or lake.

In 2004 and 2005, Priority Watershed/Lake cost sharing helped pay for agricultural BMPs that help reduce soil erosion, including: conservation tillage, cover crops, gully controls, grade stabilization structures, field diversions, waterway systems.

Nearly all Priority Watershed projects inventoried sources of soil erosion and developed goals to control sediment resulting from cropland soil erosion. Many also set specific goals to control gully erosion. The total pollutant reduction goal for both cropland and gully erosion control was 781,531 tons per year (about 40% of the estimated load). By the end of 2004, sediment delivery to surface water had been reduced by 640,434 tons per year. This represents 82 percent of the projects´ goals.

In 2004 and 2005, landowners used Priority Watershed/Lake cost sharing to install manure management practices, including: manure storage structures and practices to control runoff from barnyards, feedlots and milkhouses, rotational grazing and other practices to keep manure out of sensitive areas.

Almost all of the Priority Watershed and Lake Projects inventoried all barnyards and feedlots in the project areas and identified phosphorus from livestock manure in these areas as key water quality problems. Several projects also identified excess phosphorus problems related to improperly stored or applied manure and milkhouse waste, and developed reduction goals for those sources. Three projects tracked reductions in chemical oxygen demand (COD) from BMPs and management changes associated with barnyards and feedlots. Through 2004, these projects had achieved most of their nutrient reduction goals.

Priority Watershed/Lake cost sharing in 2004 and 2005 helped landowners pay for the installation streambank and shoreline protection practices, including stream crossings, rip-rapping, biological stabilization, and shoreline habitat restoration.

The majority of the Priority Watershed and Lake Projects established goals to reduce by 95,970 tons per year the amount of sediment that erodes from streambanks and shorelines, based on total load estimates of 189,553 tons per year. By the end of 2004, those projects reported reductions of 78,219 tons per year, or 82 percent of the reduction goal.

Additional calendar year 2005 program evaluation data was not readily available in time for preparation of this report.

Targeted Runoff Management Grant Program

The Targeted Runoff Management (TRM) Grant Program provides financial assistance to rural and urban governmental units to control polluted runoff. The maximum cost-share rate available to TRM grant recipients is 70 percent of eligible project costs, up to a maximum of $150,000 (total state share). Local governments that are awarded TRM grants may use the funds on lands they control or make the funds available to private landowners. Since the first grant cycle in 1999, TRM grants have funded construction of rural and urban best management practices. The projects last from two to four years.

During the calendar year 2004 and 2005 funding cycles, the TRM Grant Program awarded $5,697,318 in 57 grants to local units of government. As of December 31, 2005, $3,858,272 was reimbursed for completed BMP installations. Twenty-nine of the 57 projects are completed or closed. (Note: The CY 2005 grantees have until December 31, 2006 to complete their projects.) TRM grant funds from these two grant cycles have been used to install a variety of agricultural and urban BMPs (see above, right).

Urban Nonpoint Source & Storm Water Management Grant Program

The Urban Nonpoint Source and Storm Water Management (UNPS) Grant Program focuses on financial assistance to governmental units in urban areas to control polluted runoff. To be eligible for a grant, urban areas should have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile, have a commercial land use, or include a non-permitted portion of a privately owned industrial site. UNPS Grants can be used to pay for a variety of activities. Eligible planning activity costs for storm water planning, related informational and educational activities, ordinance development and enforcement, training and design are cost-shared at 70 percent. Eligible best management practice construction costs may include such projects as storm water detention ponds, infiltration basins, streambank stabilization, and shoreline stabilization and are cost-shared at 50 percent. The funded projects last between two to three years.

During 2004 and 2005 funding cycles, the UNPS Grant Program awarded $2,834,900 in planning grants and $4,370,717 in BMP construction grants to local units of government. As of December 31, 2005, 12 of the 56 planning projects and 22 of the 52 BMP construction projects awarded grants were completed. (CY 2005 grantees have until December 31, 2006 to complete projects.) UNPS grant funds from these two grant cycles were used to install urban BMPs and develop stormwater management plans.

Read about the West Branch Sugar River Restoration in "Water Success Stories".