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!' <br />lu <br />IS@ 1 <br />Water BillBoard <br />February 1995 <br />ditor: BWSR <br />612-296-3767 <br />I <br />it ... <br />~at@ VIVII'3 Cl <br />The 1994 Legislature expanded the eligibility <br />list of projects that could be funded through <br />loans from the State Revolving Fund to <br />include projects affecting water quality. The <br />best management practices (BMPs) portion <br />of the SRF package has two components: the <br />loan component, which is being coordinated <br />on a statewide basis by the i~~esota De- <br />partment of Agriculture; and the technical <br />staffing component, which is being coordi- <br />nated by the Board of Water and Soil Re- <br />sources (BWSR). <br />SRF Technical staffing <br />The Legislature allocated $865,000 to the <br />Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) <br />for technical staffing for SRF for fiscal year <br />(F1~ 1995 (which ends at the end of this <br />June). This funding is not for a full year of <br />technical staffing, as the assumption was that <br />the program wouldn't be up and running until <br />sometime this winter. In addition to the <br />$865,000, the BWSR obtained a grant from <br />the EPA for $240,000. Therefore, total tech- <br />nical staffing funding for FY 95 is $1.105 <br />minion. <br />The Technical Advisory Committee (com- <br />posed of representatives from BWSR, the <br />Minnesota Association of Soil and Water <br />Conservation Districts, the Minnesota Asso- <br />ciation of Conservation District Employees, <br />and the Natural Resources Conservation <br />Service) decided that the most effective way <br />to provide technical staffing was by dividing <br />the state up into 11 joint powers areas <br />(JPAs), loosely based on natural watershed/ <br />river basin boundaries. Each JPA needs to <br />designate one soil and water conservation <br />district (SWCD) as fiscal agent; that district <br />will receive the grant funds. Funding will be <br />used to provide each of these 11 JPAs with <br />one engineer (with sign-off capabilities) and <br />one engineering technician. <br />Although the deadline for establishment of <br />the JPAs was December 31, only one area <br />was able to formally complete their JPA <br />agreement by that time. Others are continu- <br />ing to work on it. <br />Working from the total of $1.105 million, and <br />figuring 11 JPAs, each JPA would receive <br />$100,500 for FY 95; however, the committee <br />