Assisting New Jersey Community Water Monitoring Programs
The New Jersey Watershed Watch Network’s Community Water Monitoring Grants Program funds nonprofit, academic, and municipal applicants to conduct monitoring projects in New Jersey surface waters. Grantees will use funds to launch or continue Tier 3 bioassessment, chemical, and/or microbiological projects monitoring baseline and ambient conditions under a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) approved by NJDEP. Funds may be used to support projects of one year or less, or portions of projects, occurring between November 2026 and February 2028.
Program Priorities
Priority will be given to work conducted in HUC-14 subwatersheds with Insufficient Data according to the 2022 Integrated Report. The parameters monitored in the project must address the corresponding area of insufficient data. For example, a bioassessment project would fill insufficient data for the aquatic life use, but not for recreation; a bacteria monitoring project would fill insufficient data for recreation, but not for aquatic life use. See the HUC-14 parameter results for a full list of assessments by parameter.
Priority will also be given to projects located in Overburdened Communities and Adjacent Block Groups, as defined by EJMaps and to organizations that have not been previously funded. The scoring metric to rank applications is included below.
Funding
A total of $20,000 is available to support 2-6 projects. Individual proposals should request between $2,500 and $10,000.
Funds can be used to support:
- Staff time for QAPP preparation and implementation
- Supplies and equipment
- Travel
- Subcontracted lab services
- Other related expenses
Funds cannot be used to pay for NJDEP fees, including lab certification through the Office of Quality Assurance.
Click here to apply
Important Dates
- October 1, 2026: Applications due
- October 22, 2026: Grantees selected
- November 2026-February 2028: Grant project coverage period
- April 1, 2028: Final grant reports due
Funding Priorities
The project must:
- Take place in New Jersey
- Be managed by a nonprofit, academic, or local/municipal organization
- Focus on Tier 3 (regulatory-level) community water monitoring activities on freshwater streams and lakes
- Operate under a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)
- Conclude by February 28, 2028
Applicant Scoring Metric
Project proposals that meet the grant requirements above will be scored according to the following metrics:
- 15 pts: Project Applicability
- The degree to which the project produces, or will produce, bioassessment, chemical, and/or microbiological data at the Tier 3 level
- Technical merit of the project
- 15 pts: Likelihood and Degree of Success
- Project scope is reasonable and achieves project objectives in a cost-effective way
- Previous demonstration of project success
- Implementation readiness
- 10 pts: Target HUC-14 Subwatershed(s)
- Project takes place in a HUC-14 subwatershed with insufficient data according to the 2022 NJDEP Integrated Report
- Click here to identify your HUC-14s on NJ GeoWeb
- Click here to view assessment status by HUC-14
- 5 pts: Underserved Communities
- Applicant has not been previously funded
- Project takes place in an Environmentally Overburdened Community or Adjacent Block Group
- Click here to view your region on EJMaps
Contact Erin Stretz at estretz@thewatershed.org with any questions related to this grant opportunity.