FINAL 11/20/12

Opportunity to Apply for 2013 Source Water Collaborative (SWC) Pilots

The SWC’s membership, (see our members at wishes to help promote state and/or local actions by sponsoring three collaborative efforts in 2013to protect drinking water sources by gaining the support of key agricultural and/or Clean Water Act authorities to implement conservation practices and other effective approaches.

The SWC is asking interested parties to submit an Expression of Interest. This sponsorship would be a 10-month commitment and would include planning support (additional detail below).

Goals of the Pilot Program

  • Leverage opportunities to integrate the Clean Water Act priorities, programs, and activities with those of the Safe Drinking Water Act to protect drinking water sources.
  • Leverage opportunities to build a collaborative effort with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Conservationist’s office. Specific collaborative efforts with a goal of one or more of the following:
  • Coordinate source water protection needs with NRCS programs and priorities, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP); for example, working with NRCS’s State Conservationist, local conservation districts, and others in partnership to address source water protection needs in a specific area.
  • Update State 590 Standard to establish ongoing nutrient management on the ground with consideration of drinking water sources.
  • Establish a relationship to provide specific input to watershed selection and implementation of the National Water Quality Initiative based on nutrient concerns for drinking water sources in the watershed(s).

Key Dates for 2013 Pilot Selection

  • December 12, 2012: Notify the SWC with your intention to submit an Expression of Interest byemailingChristene Jennings
  • December 21, 2012 (No later than Noon EST): Please email your formal Expressions of Interestto Christene Jennings ()
  • February 22, 2013: Expected date of Notice of Decision on Proposals. The SWC will announce the selected projects by email to everyone who sent an Expression of Interest.

Focus of 2013 SWC Pilots

The SWC intends to sponsor three collaborative efforts in 2013 and is interested in receiving proposals from groups that are ready to initiate a specific collaborative effort in their state that is consistent with one or both of the two initiatives below:

  • In October 2012, the SWC launched a new toolkit designed to help foster effective partnerships between state source water programs and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) to get more agricultural conservation practices on the ground to help protect sources of drinking water:
  • In Fall 2012, several SWC members began a new State Safe Drinking Water Act / Clean Water Act Collaboration Initiative that could offer encouragement and insights to a pilot program focused on building collaboration between these programs at a state or local level.

Candidates Should Meet the Following Criteria

  • Have source water assessment maps and data, along with a proposed set of source water protection priorities and actions to guide collaborative efforts, including developing and/or enhancing local source water protection plans.
  • Have organization leadership, champions, and/or partners in place whoare willing to support the collaborative steps to meet the project’s goals; and will continue to support implementation of source water protection policies, plans, and/or conservation practices that result from this collaborative effort.
  • Be able to dedicate time and resources to manage the collaborative effort/project for at least 10 months.
  • Be able to provide and make all arrangements for conference calls and for meeting space,equipment, supplies, or other amenities.
  • Commit to submitting a Word document providing initial results, lessons learned and implications for future efforts, and describingnext steps for the collaborative effort into 2014, no later than December 2013 at the conclusion of the pilot period.

The Recipient Would Receive the Following Benefits:

  • Consultations and sharing lessons learned from other SWC members
  • Access to potential partners and non-traditional or harder-to-reach audiences via the SWC membership and associates
  • National attention and promotion of your collaborative effort
  • Contractor support for planning and facilitating a meeting to engage potential partners in the effort
  • A limited amount of strategic planning assistance and various communications support, such as marketing and graphic design, may be available

Instructions for Submitting Expression of Interest

  • Submit a cover letter with the following information:
  • Intended scale of the collaborative effort (to the extent possible, please list which small-scale watershed, aquifer-shed, state and/or regional area would be covered)
  • Intended goals and planned outcomes of the collaborative effort
  • A short description of how the proposed project meets the criteria specified above
  • Demonstrate your group’s readiness to proceed by describing efforts and planning to date to collaborate on source water protection
  • List of existing and interested collaborative partners, along with potential and non-traditional groups the SWC may be able to invite
  • To the extent possible, please list the type of support you wish to receive
  • Describe how your effort can better achieve its intended outcomes with the SWC’s support
  • Provide complete contact information for the main contact person for your effort.

Next Steps

SWC members will review all Expressions of Interest and determine which offer the ripestopportunities for successand that could potentially benefit the most from SWC sponsorship. Those selected may be asked to provide additional details about their planned effort.

Questions may be directed by email to:

Christene Jennings, Salter>Mitchell

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Who can respond to this Request for Proposals?

State and local governments, regional planning organizations and other cross-jurisdictional or multi-state organizations, non-governmental organizations (non-profit, 501(c)(3)) can respond.

  1. We are not sure how we might use supportfrom the Source Water Collaborative. Can you provide suggestions?

No direct funding will be available for SWC pilots. The SWC will provide targeted technical assistance and expertise. In addition, the SWC may be able to support costs for meeting facilitation and facility use.

Examples of costs that could be covered include a meeting that brings together partners to identify available data and technical resources/capabilities to help identify priority watersheds, or to solicit support for a particular source water protection project. The focus of the effort could for instance be building a partnership with Clean Water Act programs to include drinking water source protection in CWA policy, program implementation, and priorities. The focus could also be on partnering with NRCS on a particular source water protection project. If you are interested in building a collaborative partnership with your NRCS State Conservationist’s office, the SWC recommends using the new online Collaboration Toolkit ( Step 5 of this toolkit encourages source water professionals to coordinate with partners before approaching their NRCS State office. A pilot plan might also include working together to provide input on watershed selection and implementation of the NRCS Water Quality Initiative.

  1. How can the Source Water Collaborative specifically help our proposed effort?

The SWC can help you bring partners to the table via outreach from our national member’s networks across the U.S. The SWC might also be able to provide contractor support for planning and facilitating a meeting to help engage potential partners; project design and strategic planning assistance; and various communications support, such as marketing and graphic design.

  1. What are some successful efforts to date that have utilized this approach?

In recent years, the SWC provided support to help initiate two new collaborative efforts:

  • The Salmon Falls Watershed Collaborative (Recipient of the 2012 US Water Prize) (
  • The Delaware River Basin Forum (

The Salmon Falls Watershed Collaborative (SFWC), an affiliate of the national Source Water Collaborative, is an action-oriented partnership between local, state and federal partners working to protect and sustain high quality drinking water in the Salmon Falls River watershed. SFWC is a network of organizations committed to clean drinking water for the benefit of current and future generations. The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) acts as a lead convening organization for the Collaborative, as PREP’s guiding Management Plan for environmental protection, restoration, and monitoring encompasses the entire Salmon Falls watershed in addition to the entire New Hampshire coastal zone. The Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve has led the facilitation of the group, the planning of the group’s highly successful October 2010 workshop, and the development of a drinking water protection action plan for the Salmon Falls Watershed.

In addition to PREP and the Wells Reserve, the following groups are currently active participants in thisCollaborative’s Steering Committee:

  • Maine Center for Disease Control Drinking Water Program
  • New Hampshire DES Drinking Water Source Protection Program
  • New Hampshire DES Watershed Assistance Section
  • Maine Rural Water Association
  • Granite State Rural Water Association
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • City of Somersworth
  • South Berwick Water District
  • Berwick Water Department
  • Maine Non-point Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO)
  • Strafford Regional Planning Commission
  • U.S. Forest Service
  • Acton Wakefield Watersheds Alliance
  • USDA Farm Service Agency (Maine and New Hampshire)
  • USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service(Maine and New Hampshire)

The Delaware River Basin Source Water Collaborative, an affiliate of the national Source Water Collaborative, is a basin-wide partnership to identify and explore issues impacting water resource sustainability for the more than 15 million people who rely on surface and ground water from the basin for drinking water. A multi-site forum, held in March 2011, laid the framework for the continuing dialogue among all who are dependent upon the source water from this unique basin. The goals of the collaborative are to:

  • Heighten awareness of issues and decisions affecting water resources—now and for the future—in the Basin
  • Connect basin-wide and local actors, issues and needs
  • Create a framework for ongoing collaboration among officials, planners, water suppliers and other stakeholders and practitioners

Local partners for the Delaware River Basin Source Water Collaborative include the US Environmental Protection Agency (Region 2 and Region 3), state environmental and health agencies of Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, and the Delaware River Basin Commission. Additional participants in the ongoing effort include private and municipal water suppliers, watershed- and water resource-focused organizations, environmental advocacy groups and academic institutions.

Several SWC members have also helped support a state-level collaborative effort. More information about the North Carolina Source Water Collaborative is available here: