Funding Available to Protect Drinking Water Lands

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services announced today that over $1.5 million in grant funding is available this fall to protect drinking water supply lands in the southern N.H. corridor.

Included in that corridor are Londonderry, Windham, Salem, Derry, Manchester and the Lake Masabesic Watershed. That includes portions of Auburn, Hooksett, Candia and Chester.

According to a release from NHDES, the money comes from a fund established to "offset impacts to wetlands and streams associated with the widening of Interstate 93 between the Massachusetts border in Salem and the I-93/I-293 interchange in Manchester."

Applications for eligibility are due by Oct. 1, 2012, and NHDES will notify eligible applicants by Oct. 31, 2012. Final applications for grants will then be due on Dec. 1, 2012 and awarded based on priority ranking and available funding.

The release went on to detail more of the grant program.

Through an agreement with the NH Department of Transportation, this grant money is administered by DES’s Water Supply Land Protection Grant Program. In this program, municipalities and non-profit land trusts may apply for grants to cover up to 25 percent of the cost of purchasing land or conservation easements critical to the quality of public drinking water supplies.

More information on the grants including a map of the eligible land can be found here or by contacting Holly Green at 603-271-3114 or holly.green@des.nh.gov.