The Resource Protection Section actively pursues supplemental funding for projects to address issues of concern.

This funding typically comes from Federal Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), United States Geological Survey (USGS) or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

While these projects are all managed by the Section, some are undertaking solely by Division of Water staff while other projects may be contracted out to academic institutions, other state agencies or qualified consultants.

Some active and pending grant projects include:

Improving the quality, accuracy, and accessibility of allocated water withdrawals records in Delaware, funded by USGS. This project entails scanning over 30 years of historic data collected by the Division of Water and importing the information into the EQUIS database.

Developing a Water Quantity Tracker, funded by the EPA. The Tracker will use real-time data and modeled water use to estimate available surface and surficial groundwater at the sub-watershed level. It will be also used to estimate the impacts of climate and land use changes on available water for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses. This project is being led by the University of Delaware Center for Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (CEMS) and the Delaware Geological Survey.

Upstream tidal datum determination, funded by NOAA. Working in cooperation with the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve (DNERR), the Division of Water is deploying sensors in Delaware’s tidal rivers and bays to calculate the differing mean high-water elevations as you move upstream from the Delaware Bay/River or Atlantic Ocean. This information, combined with geospatial data in map form, will help the Division with wetland jurisdictional determinations.

A proposed Wastewater and Drinking Water Infrastructure Inventory, with funding pending from FEMA. This project will create a single, geospatially-enabled database of information about the numerous public, county, municipal and community wastewater and drinking water systems throughout the state. This will allow for assessment of vulnerability to flooding and sea level rise, potential interconnections, overall condition of individual systems and the ability to backtrack sources of contaminates or pathogens.

Related Topics:  grants, resource protection, water