2023 Source Water Protection Grant Round Is Open

Date: June 30, 2023

The Drinking Water & Groundwater Trust Fund (DWGTF) Source Water Protection Program offers competitive grants to projects that will permanently protect water supply lands. Grants may cover up to 50% of the total project costs to permanently conserve the property, with a maximum grant award of $500,000.

Eligible applicants include:

Municipalities or other subdivisions of the state.
Owners of community water systems or a nonprofit that owns a non-transient non-community water system.
Land trusts or other nonprofits with land conservation as one of its purposes.
Other entities as approved by the DWGTF Advisory Commission.

Properties that contain Wellhead Protection Areas (WHPA), Hydrologic Areas of Concern (HACs) and/or High-Yield Stratified Drift Aquifers (GA2) are published by NHDES as high-priority water supply lands dataset and are eligible for funding. For future water supply sources, the project must meet the nine evaluation criteria in the SWP Program Rules and approval by the Advisory Commission.

See the Source Water Protection eligibility application. Eligibility applications are due July 28.

More information about the SWP program can be found on the DWGTF website.

NHDES will review and evaluate all eligibility applications and then contact all applicants. Applicants will be invited to submit a funding application, if found eligible. Funding applications are due September 29.

Please contact Laura Weit-Marcum at (603) 271-2862 or via email at laura.m.weit-marcum@des.nh.gov if you have any questions.