August 18, 2022 – The City of Decatur is moving forward with a major water quality improvement plan after being awarded a $9,883,117 federal grant for these efforts. The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) that leverages partner resources to advance innovative projects that address climate change, enhance water quality, and address other critical challenges on agricultural land.
Lake Decatur Water Quality Initiative’s objective is to collaborate with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and 53 partners to help farmers and landowners adopt Climate-Smart practices. The goal is to achieve measurable and quantifiable improvements in water quality, specifically reducing sediment and nitrates, in the Mississippi River Basin Critical Conservation Area which includes the 926-square-mile Lake Decatur watershed. The project aims to reduce up to 50% of the sediment and 20% of the nitrate nitrogen annually flowing into Lake Decatur. The partnership will leverage existing watershed plans to target funding to lands where conservation actions will have the greatest impact.
“This is an exciting opportunity to continue our efforts to improve the water quality in Lake Decatur,” said Jennifer Gunter, Watershed and Lake Manager. “We greatly appreciate the voluntary participation of our 53 grant partners who are critical to the success of this 5-year-long initiative.”
Our Lake Decatur Watershed work can be found here.
The 53 grant partners are:
- Agri Drain Corporation
- Allerton Park and Retreat Center
- American Farmland Trust
- Champaign County Farm Bureau
- Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District
- Clarkson Grain Company
- Corteva Agriscience
- CoverCress Inc.
- Crop-Tech Consulting
- DeWitt County Farm Bureau
- DeWitt County Soil and Water Conservation District
- Ducks Unlimited
- EcoMetrics
- Economic Development Corporation of Decatur-Macon County
- Ecosystem Service Exchange
- Evergreen FS
- Farm Credit Illinois
- FarmRaise
- First Illinois Ag Group
- Ford County Soil and Water Conservation District
- Ford-Iroquois Farm Bureau
- Growmark Inc.
- Illinois Association of Soil & Water Conservation Districts
- Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
- Illinois Farm Bureau
- Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association
- Illinois Hemp Growers Association
- Illinois Lakes Management Association
- Illinois Land Improvement Contractors Association
- Illinois Nutrient Research & Education Center
- K-Coe Isom/Martin Engineering
- Lieb Farms
- Macon County Conservation District
- Macon County Farm Bureau
- Macon County Soil and Water Conservation District
- ManPlan Inc.
- McLean County Farm Bureau
- McLean County Soil & Water Conservation District
- National Great Rivers Research and Education Center
- National Hemp Association
- Northern Star Integrated Services, LLC
- Northwater Consulting
- Nutrien
- Piatt County Farm Bureau
- Piatt County Soil & Water Conservation District
- Sand County Foundation
- Sanitary District of Decatur
- Shelby County Farm Bureau
- Sloan Implement
- United States Geological Survey
- University of Illinois – Critical Zone Observatory
- WAND TV
- Water Management Solutions LLC
