Outreach and Education Grant - Minnesota Chapter of Clean Water Fund
The Minnesota chapter of Clean Water Fund is using grant money to meet with drinking water systems to learn about the systems’ current programs addressing contaminants and assessing if the systems would be interested in a broader collaborative effort on the issue.
Clean Water Fund is a national nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C. that encourages grassroots environmental leadership on issues such as cleaner water and air. The Minnesota chapter of Clean Water Fund is especially focused on environmental issues surrounding water.
The Minnesota chapter of Clean Water Fund is using grant money to meet with drinking water systems to learn about the systems’ current programs addressing contaminants and assessing if the systems would be interested in a broader collaborative effort on the issue. They will convene a steering committee made of representatives from water systems, trade associations and Clean Water Fund members. This committee will design a plan for a larger meeting of interested groups to discuss current activities and joint strategies for addressing CECs. These meetings will lay the ground work to deal with broader contamination and infrastructure issues.
$1,150,000 the first year and $1,150,000 the second are for addressing public health concerns related to contaminants found in Minnesota drinking water for which no health-based drinking water standards exist, including accelerating the development of health risk limits, including triclosan, and improving the capacity of the department's laboratory to analyze unregulated contaminants
1. Establish an active and engaged steering committee to help guide future collaboration on emerging contaminants.2. Create a plan for a large convening of water systems, trade associations, environmental groups, and others to discuss areas of common concern and identify opportunities to work together.
1. Researched basic information about drinking water systems in the state such as size, water source, prior contamination issues, contacts, etc. 2. Completed 8 face to face meetings with systems in the following communities: Minneapolis, St. Paul, St. Cloud, St. Louis Park, Eagan, Rochester, Montevideo and Willmar.3. Created a draft description for a Steering Committee and recruited several individuals from community water systems that were involved in the face to face meetings.