Northern Water creates conservation grant program

BERTHOUD — The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District has created a new grant program to encourage public entities, businesses, homeowners associations and others served by Northern Water to conserve water using water-efficient landscapes.

With the Collaborative Water-Efficient Landscape Grant Program, Northern Water is looking to help fund new or redeveloped Colorado climate-friendly landscapes that require minimal or no irrigation. As part of the program, Northern Water will provide signs and other materials so that the projects can serve as water-efficiency demonstration and education sites. Examples include adoption of third-party landscape certifications, changes to HOA-managed common areas, municipal properties, park renovations and more.

The grants will range from $5,000 to $15,000, with a limited number of grants being awarded in a given year.

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“There is a lot of excitement surrounding this new program,” Frank Kinder, water efficiency program manager at Northern Water, said in a written statement. “Northern Colorado water providers and users face increasing demands and diverse challenges. We believe these grants can serve as an important tool in helping local entities to be even more efficient with their resources, while also beautifying our communities and showcasing the benefits of different landscape approaches to the public.”

The application deadline for the grant program is Feb. 15. Applicants will be notified by March 15 and are asked to have the landscape projects completed no later than Oct. 30.

Applicants must be located within Northern Water’s boundaries. A 50 percent match will be required of the applicants, which can be met with cash and/or in-kind labor.

To qualify, landscapes must be at least 500 square feet, although smaller projects may be considered if they offer unique public education opportunities. The projects must also be designed to use substantially less water than traditional landscapes and include at least 50 percent plant coverage once the plants are mature.