Sewage Management Education and Outreach Grant Program

APPLICATION DEADLINE: August 10, 2023 BEFORE 10 A.M.

In 1992, Congress passed the Clean Vessel Act to help reduce pollution from vessel sewage discharges into U.S. waters. The Grant Program established by the Act will help fund the construction, renovation, operation, and maintenance of pumpout and dump stations to service recreational vessels. The Clean Vessel Program also provides boater education programs to promote public awareness about boat sewage and its proper disposal.

As part of its commitment to provide clean, safe, and enjoyable recreational boating in California, the California State Parks, Division of Boating and Waterways (DBW) is serving as the State Grant coordinator. DBW uses federal Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund grants to support programs that educate California boaters and increases public awareness about boat waste management and its proper disposal.

Click here to download the 2023 grant application and complete guidelines packet. 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

  • This grant is open to non-profit organizations, local government entities, and private (for-profit) organizations. Grants will not be awarded to fund advocacy work.
  • Applicants must be able to demonstrate at least five years’ experience in developing and implementing educational and outreach programs. The written summary of the outcome of the multi-year educational and outreach programs must be verifiable.

This is a reimbursement program. Reimbursement is available for up to 75% of the eligible project costs. Grantee is responsible for finding eligible match funding (in the form of cash, donations, or volunteer hours) totaling no less than 25% of the total project value.

The Grant Program focuses on two targeted geographic regions of California:

  • 13-county San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary (San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Marin, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties).
  • 6 Southern California Coastal Counties (Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and San Luis Obispo Counties).

**Proposals that cover a portion of the above regions will be considered if, over time, the agency can expand program(s) to the entire region. 

Note:This is a coastal grant so inland work should not be performed under this grant except in the Delta region (Page 3) (Delta definition http://dbw.parks.ca.gov/pages/28702/files/Chapter%202.pdf pages 2-1 and 2-2)

The Grant Program will support two main goals in each geographic region:

Objective A-Education and Outreach:

1) Effectively and creatively educate and conduct outreach to the boating community within one of the two geographic regions about vessel sewage related issues, impacts, resources available to them, and proper vessel sewage disposal practices that reduce the amount of sewage from entering our waterways and encourage the use of pumpout facilities, dump stations, and mobile pumpout services.
2) Conduct outreach to boating facility operators about the availability of DBW grants to install and maintain pumpout and dump stations at their facility.

Objective B-Pumpout/Dump Station Monitoring:
1) Assist DBW in determining the status, repair needs, and usage of pumpout and dump stations in the two geographic regions.
2) Monitoring must include the use, update, maintenance, and metric gathering of the Pumpout Nav App on a regular basis as well as development of new features that will improve the existing Pumpout Nav App. The selected grantees will provide training and technical assistance to boaters and partnering agencies to maintain the Nav App as a valuable boater tool.

  • Inform the boating community within each of the two geographic regions about sewage related issues, impacts, resources available to them, and proper vessel sewage disposal practices to encourage the use of pumpout facilities and mobile pumpout services.
  • Educate boating facility operators about the availability of DBW grant funds to install and maintain pumpout stations at their facility.

The monitoring component of the Grant Program will help DBW to continue to determine the status and usage of pumpout stations in the two geographic regions. This information will assist DBW in determining the use, operational status and condition of these systems. Keeping track of these parameters allows DBW staff to assist in expediting pumpout repair, provide data about pumpout systems, and target outreach efforts.

Desired Outcomes:

  • Increase public boater awareness of proper vessel sewage disposal techniques and consequences of improper disposal.
  • Assist DBW in determining the use, operational status, and condition of the sewage pumpout and dump station systems in the geographic regions.
  • Assist marina owners/operators with expediting pumpout repair, provide data about pumpout and dump station systems, and targeted outreach efforts.
  • Assist DBW in educating marina owners/operators about the availability of grant funds to install and maintain pumpout and dump stations at their facility.
  • Work collaboratively with grantees from the other region to coordinate statewide education efforts.  

A maximum of $553,874 is available statewide; each regional grant is eligible for up to $276,937.

Two grants will be awarded one for each of the California targeted regions mentioned above:

1. The San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary, and
2. The 5 Southern California Coastal Counties.

Each grant proposal must include plans for education, outreach, and monitoring. Applications that do not address each component will be disqualified.

Applications must be received by DBW in either in hard copy form or via email in .pdf format prior to the end of business on August 10th, 2023 BEFORE 10AM. Proposals will not be accepted via fax.

Applications will be evaluated and ranked according to how each application proposal demonstrates comprehensive and proven methods for meeting grant program goals identified above.

Email submittals shall be sent to Vivian.Matuk@coastal.ca.gov and ethan.tratner@parks.ca.gov

California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways Clean Vessel Education and Outreach Grant Program
Attn: Ethan Tratner
PO Box 942896
Sacramento, CA 94296-0001

Email submittals shall be sent to Vivian.Matuk@coastal.ca.gov  and ethan.tratner@parks.ca.gov.