COLUMBUS, OH - In its continued effort to improve the quality of Ohio's waterways, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is accepting grant applications for construction and placement of sanitary pump-out facilities and dump stations serving recreational boaters. Deadline for submitting applications is October 1.
"Ohio's emphasis is to work with public and privately owned marine facilities to allow for proper sewage disposal by recreational boaters," said Dave Roseler, who administers the Clean Vessel Act grant program for the ODNR Division of Watercraft.
Clean Vessel Act funds are provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and will pay 100 percent of approved construction and renovations of sanitary marine pump-out and dump stations that are open to the public. Funding is available to both public and private marinas and other recreational boating facilities.
A total of $962,000 in grants have been awarded to 90 successful marina applicants in Ohio since the program's inception in 1999. Half of these projects have been completed, while another 30 are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Among the total of completed and ongoing projects, 59 are located on Lake Erie, 12 on the Ohio River, six within the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, two on the Muskingum River and one on the Sandusky River.