Narragansett Bay and Water Restoration Fund (BWRF) Grants

DEM has awarded a total of $3,375,733 in grants under the Narragansett Bay & Watershed Restoration Fund that was authorized in the voter-approved 2022 Green Bond.  DEM received over 30 grant proposal applications seeking financial assistance under the Request for Proposals released in December 2023.  The projects are divided into three categories: 

1. Non-point Source and Stormwater Pollution Control Projects: Projects that improve stormwater management and abate stormwater pollution with emphasis on green infrastructure, capital projects that strengthen local stormwater management programs, and projects that implement a Best Management Practice identified in an approved stormwater management plan or water quality restoration plan are encouraged.
2. Flood Prevention and Mitigation Projects: Projects that reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of flooding in coastal or inland areas and enhance natural ecosystem functions. Eligible projects include the restoration of floodplains, removal of impervious surfaces and re-vegetation in flood-prone areas, and culvert replacements, among others. 
3. Riparian Buffer and Aquatic Habitat Restoration Projects: Projects that address aquatic invasive plant management, particularly in lakes, riparian buffer restoration activities, or other action to restore aquatic habitats.

Grant Awards for Stormwater and Nonpoint Source Pollution Control and Flood Mitigation

Town of Barrington – Water Way End-of-Road Retrofit ($44,000):  Barrington, in partnership with Save the Bay, will retrofit an existing stormwater management structure to better address stormwater pollution and improve regular maintenance.  The retrofit will include installing tree trench BMPs in the drainage area to reduce the volume of stormwater runoff and a sediment forebay at the end of Water Way. 

Bristol County Water Authority – Upper & Lower Kickemuit Dam Removal ($100,000):  BCWA is in the process of removing the Lower and Upper Kickemuit Dams in Warren to restore the Kickemuit River closer to natural conditions while improving water quality and aquatic habitat conditions.  This funding coincides with a Section 319 Nonpoint Source Grant ($400,000) from DEM towards this project. 

Town of Burrillville – Vacuum Truck ($255,000): Burrillville will purchase a vacuum truck to remove debris from the Town’s municipal stormwater system.  Regular removal of debris reduces pollutant loading to receiving waterways and improves the working life of the infrastructure. 

Town of Hopkinton – High-Efficiency Street Sweeper ($166,257): Hopkinton will purchase a high-efficiency street sweeper to remove debris from roadways recommended for rural road conditions. Removing debris from roadways reduces the volume that reaches waterways and improves maintenance of stormwater infrastructure.

Town of Middletown – Green End Stormwater and Flooding Improvements ($400,000): This project will install new stormwater best management practices (BMPs) to intercept and treat runoff from Miantonomi Avenue which discharges into North Easton Pond and replace an undersized culvert at Green End Avenue that has caused localized flooding issues for decades. North Easton Pond is part of the Newport Drinking Water Supply System. 

Town of Middletown – Berkeley Avenue Culvert ($400,000): This project would replace an undersized culvert on Berkeley Avenue with a new culvert that improves watercourse continuity and aquatic habitat, management of peak flows, and resiliency of inland habitats and community infrastructure. 

City of Newport – CSO Disconnections ($400,000): The City of Newport will disconnect stormwater connections to the existing combined sewer-stormwater overflow (CSO) system reducing flows into Newport Harbor and re-route runoff to a new separate new stormwater system that will provide treatment via infiltration via green infrastructure along Bellevue Avenue.  

City of Pawtucket – Daggett Avenue Green Infrastructure ($400,000): Pawtucket will install stormwater green infrastructure along Daggett Avenue to reduce runoff volume that will result in improved water quality in the nearby Ten Mile River and less flooding in the immediate area. 

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management – Pawtuxet Depot Floodplain Restoration ($110,000): RIDEM Planning & Development will restore floodplain habitat and create public recreational access to the Pawtuxet River at a site in Cranston that was previously used as a storage area.  The project will remove approximately 20,000 square feet of impervious surface and restore 4.25 acres of floodplain habitat.

Town of South Kingstown – Indian Run Brook Restoration ($66,350): South Kingstown will mitigate stormwater impacts in the impaired Indian Run Brook as it passes through the town-owned property between the Neighborhood Guild and Village Green Park.  The project would remove impervious surfaces and install stormwater green infrastructure best management practices (BMPs).

Town of Warren – Jamiel’s Park Landfill Capping and Shoreline Restoration ($350,000): Jamiel’s Park is a town-owned 12.5-acre property that offers recreational and green spaces in a Brownfield location that previously served as a private landfill.  Warren will use funding for Phase III of a long-term project designed to cap and stabilize the former landfill with the following goals: (1) improving water quality in Belcher Cove; (2) reducing coastal erosion; (3) reducing coastal and inland flooding; and (4) mitigating further marsh degradation along the Palmer River. 

Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council – Lower Woonasquatucket Native Riparian Habitat Restoration ($27,898): WRWC will use funding to address invasive species at the Cathedral Art Metal Company, Inc. and areas along Promenade/Kinsley area of the Woonasquatucket River and restore the areas with native plants. 

Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council – Manton Streambank Restoration ($227,413): WRWC will use funding to stabilize and restore approximately 700 linear feet of eroded riverbank along the Johnston/Providence boundary.  DEM has awarded WRWC a Section 319 Nonpoint Source Grant ($224,000) towards this project. In addition, WRWC has secured significant outside funding in order to complete the overall project. 

Bonnet Shores Fire District – Wesquage Pond ($75,000): The Bonnet Shores Fire District will complete planning, design, and permitting for a limited phragmites management program and the future construction of hydraulic and stormwater controls associated with Bonnet Point Road to flooding management of peak flows and mitigate flooding.   One aspect of the project involves equalization pipes within Wesquage Pond in to provide additional outlet capacity during peak flows to Narragansett Bay.  

Grant Awards for Riparian Buffer and Aquatic Habitat Restoration Including the Treatment of Aquatic Invasive Plants

Town of South Kingstown - Indian Lake – 2025 Treatment for Hydrilla (Total Project Cost: $280,000; Grant Award: $155,000): Funding to support second-year herbicide treatment for Hydrilla in Indian Lake in South Kingstown.  The first-year treatment was organized by DEM and was funded by a separate United States Fish & Wildlife Service grant. This project is deemed a priority to control the population to prevent wider spread of this aggressive invasive plant. 

American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island (Total Project Cost: $26,000; Grant Award: $22,724) – Project to treat fanwort in Adams Lake (aka Slocum Reservoir) in Exeter (23 acres), home of Camp Canonicus) in concert with Hundred Acre Pond and Yorker Mill Pond to comprehensively treat the Chipuxet River watershed as headwaters of Worden Pond and the Wild and Scenic Wood-Pawtcatuck Watershed.  This project will be done in conjunction with the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District.

City of East Providence (Total Project Cost: $75,000; Grant Award: $37,500) – Treatment of invasive water chestnut in Central Pond and Turner Reservoir (137 and 86 acres, respectively), to continue to build on the successful treatment in 2023 to address the largest population of water chestnut in Rhode Island. Both Central Pond and Turner Reservoir have lightcraft public access ramps for paddlers in the Ten Mile River watershed. 

Gilbert Stuart Museum (Total Project Cost: $67,900; Grant Award: $50,900) – Project to treat invasive fanwort at Gilbert Stuart Pond (aka Carr Pond) in North Kingstown (54 acres) in the Pettaquamscutt (Narrow) River watershed.  

Harrisville Spring Lake Camper’s, Inc. (Total Project Cost: $22,600; Grant Award: $6,000) – Treatment of milfoil and fanwort at Spring Lake (aka Herring Pond) in Burrillville (97 acres). There is a public swimming beach run by the town of Burrillville and a state boat ramp, and Spring Lake is connected to the Clear River, in the Blackstone River Watershed.  

Hawkins Pond Association (Total Project Cost: $24,885; Grant Award: $4,700) – Project to treat invasive fanwort in Hawkins Pond in Johnston (27 acres) which is connected to Stump Pond in the Woonasquatucket River Watershed.  

Lake Mishnock Preservation Association (Total Project Cost: $22,450; Grant Award: $17,000) – Treatment of invasive hydrilla in Lake Mishnock, West Greenwich (50 acres). Hydrilla is a highly aggressive invasive species and is a priority target to control the population in this pond which upstream of the South Branch of the Pawtuxet River.  

Oak Reservoir Association (Total Project Cost: $22,850; Grant Award: $5,650) – Project to treat invasive fanwort in Oak Swamp Reservoir, in Johnston (110 acres) which is the headwaters of the Pocasset River, and part of the Pawtuxet River Watershed. 

Rhode Island Country Club (in partnership with Preserve Echo Lake) (Total Project Cost: $35,089; Grant Award: $6,200) – Treatment of invasive fanwort in Echo Lake, Barrington (23 acres), a popular fishing spot with small boat access.  

Wakefield Pond Association (Total Project Cost $15,000; Grant Award $5,222)– Project to treat invasive fanwort at Wakefield Pond in Burrillville (86 acres) which has a state boat ramp, and its outflow drains west into Connecticut. This project will be done in conjunction with the Northern Rhode Island Conservation District.

Yorker Mill Pond Dam, LLC ($53,235) – Project to treat Yorker Mill Pond (aka Dorsett Mill Pond) in Exeter (18 acres) in concert with Adams Lake on the Chipuxet River (part of the Wild and Scenic Wood-Pawcatuck Rivers) for invasive fanwort and improve fish and wildlife habitat. 

For more information or questions, please contact:

• Katie DeGoosh-DiMarzio: (401) 537-4217 or katie.degoosh@dem.ri.gov
• Sean McCormick: (401) 537-4254 or sean.mccormick@dem.ri.gov