Guilford Yacht Club Receives Clean Vessel Act Grant for 2014 Boating Season

This week, the DEEP announced that more than $1.1 Million in Annual Clean Vessel Act Grants has been awarded to 36 Marine Sewage Disposal Facilities for the 2014 Boating Season. The funding will be used "for construction or improvement of facilities that provide for the safe disposal of sewage from recreational boats," according to a press release from the DEEP. 

Among the recipients is the Unit Owners Association at Guilford Yacht Club, Inc., who were awarded a $9,225 grant. The grant will be used for Pumpout Operation and Maintenance for one of their stationary facilities. 

According to the press release, the grants are intended to aid in the following: 

In an effort to improve water quality in navigable waterways within Connecticut -- this program, which is managed through the DEEP’s Office of Long Island Sound Programs -- provides federally funded matching grants for projects that provide boat sewage disposal facilities, more commonly known as pumpouts under DEEP’s annual Federal Clean Vessel Act (CVA) program.

“The Clean Vessel Act Grant Program is a valuable partnership between the DEEP and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that provides funds for pumpout facilities that help us to preserve and protect water quality in Long Island Sound,” said DEEP Commissioner Daniel C. Esty in the press release.  “These grants provide the needed matching funds so that local marine businesses, municipalities and non-profit organizations can afford to participate in this important effort, providing boaters with a convenient and affordable way to do the right thing by using pumpouts.”

Up to 75% of the cost of an approved project can be reimbursed under the program, "whose purpose is to improve water quality by increasing the availability of proper waste handling facilities for boaters which will reduce the discharge of poorly treated or untreated sanitary wastes into the waters of Long Island Sound and its harbors."

Funding for the Clean Vessel Act Program is provided by the Sport Fishing and Boating Trust Fund, formerly known as the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund.

For more information about this program, visit the DEEP web page at www.ct.gov/deep/cva or contact Kate Hughes Brown, Grants and Outreach Coordinator, at (860) 424-3652 or by email at kate.brown@ct.gov.