Fiscal Year 2024 Building Partner Capacity and Promoting Resiliency and Equity under Clean Water Act, Wetlands, Nonpoint Source, Monitoring, Assessment and Listing Programs

Background
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting applications from eligible entities to provide support for training and related activities to build the capacity of agricultural partners, state, territorial and Tribal officials, and nongovernmental stakeholders in activities to be carried out to support the goals of the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 303(d) Program, the CWA 305(b) Program, the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program, the Nonpoint Source (CWA Section 319) Program, the Fish Monitoring/Advisory Programs, the Recreational Waters/Beach Monitoring Programs, and the Water Quality Monitoring Program.

Grant Details
The EPA is seeking support for training workshops and communication/outreach activities to effectively assess water quality and communicate technical information at national, regional, and state scales. The workshops will focus on specific aquatic resources or selected issues with cross-resource topics of interest.

The project components include roles and responsibilities for establishing and managing the State and Tribal Aquatic Resource Monitoring Technical Training and Capacity Building Workshops. The workshops aim to enhance communication, coordination, technology transfer among states, Tribes, and federal agencies; increase understanding and technology transfer of probability-based sampling, field methods, methods comparability; increase inter-jurisdictional collaboration among states and Tribes; communicate results from the National Aquatic Resource Surveys to support water quality protection/restoration actions at various scales.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants include entities capable of planning, preparing, and conducting training workshops as well as providing direct nonpoint source technical assistance to Tribes. Applicants should demonstrate experience working with state and Tribal staff that implement CWA Section 303(d), CWA Section 305(b), TMDL programs as well as federal agencies responsible for implementing programs that protect human health such as recreational water/beach monitoring and advisory programs.

Period of Performance
The project period for each award varies depending on the National Priority Area addressed. For example, it is anticipated that the project period for National Priority Area I will be five years while National Priority Area III will have a project period of six years.

Grant Value
The total available funding for each National Priority Area varies. For instance, National Priority Area I has a total available funding of approximately $550,000 depending on the amount requested and the overall size and scope of the project.

Place of Performance
The specific locations for conducting training workshops are expected to be in or near major U.S. cities accessible to transportation to most effectively accommodate travel needs of participants.