(Arnolds Park)– The Dickinson County Water Quality Commission Monday awarded grants totaling 133,732-dollars to seven different projects designed to improve or protect water quality of the Iowa Great Lakes.
Daryl Halling of Arnolds Park served as acting chairman at Monday’s meeting. He says projects that were awarded funding had to meet some strict criteria established by the commission.
Halling says the commission received 10 applications seeking funding; seven were approved. Rejected were applications from the Wahpeton Canals Protective Association which was seeking 40-thousand dollars for a dredging project; a 30-thousand dollar request from East Okoboji Beach for a drainage and infrastructure project was turned down; and a 120-thousand dollar grant request for a dredging project at Turtle Lake was also declined. Halling says the East Okoboji application was lacking in information; and the dredging applications were rejected because Halling says they’re intended more for recreational purposes.
A total of 200-thousand dollars was available to be awarded this round. As mentioned, the commission awarded 133,732-dollars. Halling says the commission tabled any action on what to do with the difference.
Entities and projects that were awarded funding Monday include the Dickinson Soil and Water Conservation District which will receive 52,175-dollars for demonstration sites of infiltration-based storm water management practices; 24,352-dollars was awarded to the Iowa Great Lakes Cleanwater Alliance; the Iowa Department of Natural Resources will receive 38-thousand dollars for a project to improve watershed modeling; 7,325-dollars was awarded to Friends of Lakeside Lab for water quality monitoring; the Silver Lake Protective Association will receive 1,250-dollars to formulate plans for water quality projects; 7,185-dollars was awarded to the Dickinson County Conservation Board and Friends of Lakeside Lab for a graduate student to serve as a joint intern for environmental education for the two entities; and the Triboji Beach Betterment Association was awarded 3,445-dollars for a prairie restoration project.
