Funding Opportunity for Source Water Protection

Protecting source water is a fundamental part of providing safe, reliable drinking water to the residents and businesses of your community. Effective source water protection can help you reduce treatment costs, support public health, and safeguard long-term infrastructure.

To support communities in implementing source water protection plans and projects, the National Rural Water Alliance offers funding through the Source Water Protection Program. This program can provide up to $100,000 per project to help communities move existing shovel-ready, fully scoped initiatives into construction and completion.

Eligible implementation projects must meet program requirements. This includes the protection of water quality or quantity, and must be tied to evidence-based activities identified in an established source water protection plan. The Alliance of Indiana Rural Water provides examples of eligible projects, which may include:

• Land acquisition or conservation measures within protected areas
• Riparian buffers and other physical barriers
• Wellhead or intake protection improvements
• Signage, fencing, and access control measures
• Drainage or grading improvements to redirect runoff away from drinking water sources
• Site stabilization and erosion control measures
• Other location-specific protection strategies identified through source water planning

Commonwealth Engineers welcomes the opportunity to speak with your community about developing a Source Water Protection Plan. In addition to helping identify practical strategies to protect this critical community asset and investment, these plans can position your community to pursue funding opportunities that support implementation of prioritized action items.