DEM Announces Grant Awards from 2024 Narragansett Bay & Watershed Restoration Fund for Projects to Improve Water Quality and Aquatic Habitats

Published on Thursday, August 29, 2024

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) today announced that they have awarded $3,176,918 in grants to local and state governments, non-profit organizations, and community groups. The grants are funded by the Narragansett Bay and Watersheds Restoration Fund (BWRF) which received $3 million in the voter-approved 2022 Green Bond. Additional funding for this round of projects was sourced from previous BWRF bonds. DEM received over 30 grant proposal applications seeking financial assistance under the Request for Proposals (RFP) released in December 2023. The projects are divided into three categories:

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 (BMP) identified in an approved stormwater management plan or water quality restoration plan are encouraged.

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.

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.

The 2024 grant recipients include:

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.

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.

Bristol County Water Authority (BCWA) – 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 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): DEM’s Division of Planning and 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 BMPs.

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

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 (WRWC) – 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.

DEM has also awarded $198,815 in BWRF grant funding to projects to manage and treat aquatic invasive plants in Rhode Island lakes and ponds. Additional information on these projects can be found on DEM's BWRF webpage.

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