Watershed planning and improvement is not a small task – the right tools and resources can make all the difference in successful watershed planning and implementation projects.

Potential Funding Sources for Watershed Improvement

Watershed protection takes funding as well as action. Here are some resources that can help:

  • Section 319 Nonpoint Source Grants: Funding available from the department.
  • Funding Resources for Watershed Protection and Restoration: From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): help finding grants, loans, and cost-sharing opportunities.
  • Water Protection Program Financial Assistance Center: The department offers assistance through the State Revolving Fund to help communities plan, finance and build water infrastructure projects.
  • Financial and Technical Assistance for Farmers: Get help to implement conservation practices from MoDNR’s Soil and Water Conservation Program and your county Soil and Water Conservation District, and from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NRCS also provides assistance and incentives for voluntary conservation practice implementation through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), and has additional programs for technical and financial assistance for agricultural producers and rural communities.
  • Community Conservation Funding Opportunities: The Missouri Department of Conservation offers communities and partners a number of grant and cost-share options to assist with everything from green development to wildlife habitat to enhancing outdoor recreation opportunities.
  • Animal Waste Treatment Loan Program: This Missouri Department of Agriculture program provides loans to help finance animal waste treatment systems for independent livestock and poultry producers at below conventional interest rates.
  • Environmental Justice Grants and Resources: The primary purpose of EPA’s environmental justice grant programs is to support and empower communities as they develop and implement solutions that significantly address environmental and/or public health issues at the local level.
  • EPA’s Water Topics: Visit this page for links to information about infrastructure finance, drinking water/wastewater resiliency, and other helpful resources.
  • Developing a Sustainable Finance Plan: EPA’s Watershed Academy training module to help watershed organizations increase their impact through financial planning and acquiring sustainable funding.

Grant Application Preparation

•    Grant Writing Basics blog: From Grants.gov.

Nonpoint Source Pollution and Watersheds

Learn about watersheds and nonpoint source pollution.

Informational Mapping and Analysis Tools

  • How’s My Waterway: Find your local watershed, plus data and local volunteer groups.
  • Model My Watershed: An online app to map and model your watershed using tools to analyze land use, soil data, stormwater runoff and water quality impacts, and impacts of different conservation or development scenarios.
  • Missouri Watersheds: Interactive map showing Missouri’s HUC-8 and HUC-12 watersheds.

Water Quality and Assessment Information

  • Water Quality Assessment and Impaired Waters: Learn about how the department assesses water quality conditions in the state.
  • Missouri Water Quality 305(b) Report and 303(d) List: Check out water quality conditions in Missouri; view the state’s 305(b) Integrated Report, 303(d) List of Impaired Waters, TMDLs, and associated assessment information.
  • Water Quality Assessment Viewer: Interactive map showing Missouri’s impaired waters; add layers like stormwater outfalls, monitoring sites, CAFOs, toxic event locations, etc.; use the layer list ellipsis (…) to change a layer’s visibility range, enable pop-ups for available information, etc.
  • Impaired Waters and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) Viewer: Interactive map showing Missouri’s impaired waters, TMDL locations, and TMDL watersheds.
  • Missouri Stream Team: A volunteer organization of citizens concerned with Missouri streams, Stream Teams act to help restore and protect our streams; among many activities includes Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring (VWQM) – with Introductory Level training workshops offered every spring.
  • Who’s Monitoring Your Watershed?: Interactive map showing Missouri Stream Team Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring (VWQM) sites and associated data; data can be requested from department VWQM staff.
  • WATERS: U.S. EPA’s Query Tool for Water allows user friendly access to EPA’s Watershed Assessment, Tracking and Environmental Results System (WATERS), which unites water quality information from several independent and unconnected databases.
  • International Stormwater BMP Database: A partnership of EPA and other public, private and nonprofit entities, this database project provides tools and resources for urban BMP use, including BMP Performance Summaries and other tools, and guidance for ensuring high quality data collection and analysis for assessing impacts of urban stormwater BMPs.
  • How’s My Waterway: Find your local watershed, plus data and local volunteer groups.

Watershed Based Planning

Watershed based plans (WBPs) developed using Section 319 subgrant funding must be accepted by EPA and the department; accepted WBPs are then eligible for additional Section 319 funding for plan implementation on a competitive basis. WBPs may be developed without Section 319 funding, but for all plans, adherence to planning requirements and guidance are critical to plan acceptance and subsequent 319 funding eligibility for plan implementation.

Watershed Models

Watershed modeling is a very useful way to help determine what areas of a watershed are most in need of best management practice (BMP) implementation to address nonpoint source (NPS) issues, and which BMPs would be most effective to solve NPS issues there. If Section 319 funding is being used for watershed planning or implementation, watershed modeling will most likely be needed to calculate pollutant load reductions.

The modeling application chosen will depend on the needs of the project. Below are two commonly used public domain applications used in Section 319 funded projects: 

Education and Outreach Tools

Quality Assurance/ Quality Control Requirements, Guidance and Resources

In order to ensure high quality data collection and analysis outcomes, both implementation and watershed based planning projects require a quality assurance project plan (QAPP) for any environmental data collection activities (e.g. water quality monitoring), use of secondary data, and watershed or water quality modeling. Since QAPPs must be approved by the department, they must follow departmental and EPA guidance and requirements.

Department-accepted Watershed Based Plans

Locally-led efforts have resulted in the development of a number of department-accepted Watershed Based Plans (WBPs). Section 319 funding may be used to implement or update these department-accepted plans. Plans more than five years old must be updated and accepted in order to be eligible for implementation funding. For more information about specific plans, contact the Nonpoint Source Program via email at MoDNR.NPSprogram@dnr.mo.gov. 

Currently Eligible for Section 319 Implementation Funding

Plans in Progress: Eligible for Section 319 Implementation Funding once completed.

  • Blue River (Kansas City)
  • Clarks Fork (Cole County)
  • Cuivre River
  • Greater Bonne Femme
  • Lake Mozingo
  • Lake Taneycomo
  • Lower Grand River

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