The Shumlin administration laid out its two-year spending plan for the state’s Clean Water Fund on Monday.
The Clean Water Fund Board, which includes the secretaries of Administration; Agriculture, Food and Markets, Commerce and Community Development, Natural Resources, and Transportation, recommended spending $10.4 million in FY 2016 and FY 2017 on water pollution abatement.
The money will target the sources of nutrient runoff, which is linked to annual blue-green algae blooms in Lake Champlain, a news release said.
The board’s recommendations include:
• $2,140,000 for municipal stormwater support;
• $1,465,000 for municipal road inventories and improvements;
• $985,000 for grassroots partner support to aid municipalities and farmers;
• $1,750,000 for direct grants to farmers;
• $900,000 for compliance and enforcement of water quality standards on farms by the Agency of Agriculture; and
• $1,150,000 for river channel and floodplain restoration activities to reduce soil erosion and enhance flood resiliency.
“We know that cleaning up the lake will take time and will require the participation of all Vermonters,” Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Deb Markowitz said in the release. “The clean water fund money is being deployed carefully to help jump-start that work.”
