Salamonie water quality targeted

The Jay County Commissioners pledged support to aid in a grant application that would allow for water quality testing on the Salamonie River.
Jay County Soil and Water Conservation District educator Bettie Jacobs and Portland resident Connie Ronald spoke with the commissioners this morning about securing some support in an effort to file for a Section 319 grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
The move was driven by a water quality report released in March by the Army Corps of Engineers and IDEM that identified several sites along the Salamonie in Jay County that tested above recommended levels for several nutrients and E. coli.
The 319 grant would allow the county to conduct two to three years of water testing on the river to try to identify contamination sites and form solutions.
Jacobs came to seek verbal support for the grant push but was also looking to see if the county would financially back the effort.
“At the least we would really want a letter of endorsements,” Jacobs said.
“With a 319 grant there’s a 40 percent match,” she said. “We would also need some dedicated money for startup funds.”
Jacobs said the idea for the grant would be to cover testing for Salamonie sites in both Jay and Blackford counties. She noted that Blackford might also provide financial support if it agreed to help and Jacobs said she was also speaking with Portland officials this morning and that the city might also be involved.
Jacobs explained that the match could also come in “in-kind” contributions, such as volunteer work, which would be calculated at a determined rate, and would qualify the same as monetary contributions.
The grant application is due in September, but the grant funds would not be disbursed if won until September 2012 and the testing process would likely not begin until 2014.
“We’re talking way down the road,” Ronald said.
Although Jacobs and Ronald were looking for any support, the commissioners said they would be willing to sponsor the grant application through the county and administer the grant, if won.
They also said that community developer Ami Huffman could help write the grant.
“I think we’d be on board for that,” commissioner Faron Parr said.
The commissioners left the option open, noting that if the city or another entity wanted to head up the grant administration side they would capitulate.
Jacobs and Ronald were scheduled to meet with city officials later this morning and were planning also to speak with The Portland Foundation about financial support for the initiative.
In other business this morning, the commissioners:
•Approved a utility easement for Frontier at county roads road 700 West and 500 South.[[In-content Ad]]