Vermont has poured $603 million, from state and federal sources, into improving water quality in the state, according to a report released by the Agency of Natural Resources last week. However, the agency is only a fraction of the way towards achieving its pollution reduction goals.
In fiscal year 2016, as part of Vermont’s Clean Water Act, the state agency outlined a plan to reduce pollution in lakes, rivers and streams. Every year, it publishes a performance report to account for steps taken by the costly initiative.
“It’s really exciting to be able to report back that we’re making measurable progress and starting to see the benefits of this investment,” said Emily Bird, the clean water initiative’s program manager.
In fiscal year 2024, Vermont secured $186.6 million in funding for water projects, nearly double the $93.6 million allocated in 2023. This significant boost was driven by a temporary surge in federal support from the American Rescue Plan Act, with the majority of the funds directed toward wastewater and stormwater projects, Claire Madden, the initiative’s tracking and accounting supervisor, told the Vermont House Environment Committee on Tuesday.
In total, the more than $600 million awarded over nine years has allowed the state to conserve 456,000 acres of farmland, restore 530 miles of streams, and address 3,360 acres of pavement and other hard surfaces, such as rooftops. The funds have also helped restore over 1,000 road drainage systems and conserved 2,950 acres of floodplains and wetlands, according to the Agency of Natural Resource’s report.
Many of the clean water projects are aimed at reducing phosphorus, a nutrient that fuels harmful algae blooms called cyanobacteria when present in excess. These blooms, common in Lake Champlain, Lake Memphremagog, and other Vermont lakes, deplete oxygen in ecosystems, harming wildlife and posing health risks to humans.
Since the implementation of the Vermont Clean Water Act, the state has achieved 26% of the reduction target for the total phosphorus load flowing daily into Lake Champlain — known technically as the total maximum daily load — and 17% of the same for Lake Memphremagog, two of the state’s largest water bodies.
While the 2024 data presented Tuesday showed that phosphorus reduction progress has slowed compared to 2023, Bird told lawmakers that’s because there’s a lag between distributing the funding and then collecting the data on projects’ impact.
“We’re seeing a little bit of a lag in terms of the most recent state fiscal year data being complete,” said Bird. “What we’re expecting is that next year, when we report, we’ll have the missing data for the end of the most recent reporting period for state fiscal year 2024, and then that will help to catch up.”
“Agriculture continues to be the sector with the largest demonstrated reductions,” Bird told the committee. “They are also the sector with the largest reduction to achieve.”
According to the report, roughly 54% of the funds reported for the state fiscal year 2024 — approximately $100 million — come from the American Rescue Plan Act. These funds must be spent by December 2026. In response to a lawmaker’s question, Bird expressed confidence that the agency would be able to meet that deadline.
“I think it’s reasonable to point out that we have a lot of money to get out the door with the American Rescue Plan Act in a short period of time,” she said. But, she said, the projects “are being closely monitored by the Agency of Administration and Agency of Natural Resources and the partners that received those funds are well aware of the deadline, so we are optimistic.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont reports progress on $600M of investments in clean water projects.