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Susquehanna River Basin Commission Awards More Than $11 Million For Pay-For-Success Nitrogen Reduction Projects

On August 15, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Maryland Department of the Environment announced funding of more than $11 million to seven projects that will help mitigate water quality impacts of the Conowingo Reservoir on the Chesapeake Bay under the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan Program.

SRBC, acting as financing authority, is awarding this first round of funding provided by the state of Maryland to meet nutrient reduction goals of the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan.

The CWIP addresses nutrient loads entering the Chesapeake Bay as a result of Conowingo Dam reaching its trapping capacity. It has been determined that the reservoir has reached dynamic equilibrium and is no longer preventing a portion of the pollutant load from flowing downstream.

The funding provided is part of Maryland’s innovative approach using a “pay-for-success” model which provides payment for verified environmental outcomes only upon demonstration of successful implementation.

As an interstate agency, SRBC is able to serve as the financing authority. This allows Maryland to fund projects upstream throughout the Susquehanna River Basin, across state boundaries in both Pennsylvania and New York, and count those nutrient reductions against Maryland’s CWIP obligations.

“Data and science are so important to restoring our Chesapeake Bay,” said MDE Secretary Serena McIlwain. “Following a pay-for-success model means our investment will bring real results for healthier waterways, our economy and our way of life.”

The “pay-for-success” funding model encourages innovative and cost-effective approaches to nitrogen reductions in a competitive process, and as such, this first round of funding has nitrogen reductions priced from approximately $150 per pound of nitrogen reduced, to as low as approximately $6 per pound, for a variety of practices.

Total annual nitrogen loads are projected to be reduced by approximately 46,000 pounds per year, for a total of approximately 368,200 pounds of nitrogen reduced over the lifespans of the projects funded.

Awarded projects will be implemented in both Pennsylvania and Maryland jurisdictions.

Pay-for-Success awardees--

-- HGS, LLC – Precision Nutrient Management - $2,033,007: HGS, LLC and its partners (RES LLC, The Mill, Center for Watershed Protection, Earthcare LLC, Ecosystem Planning and Restoration LLC) will use the awarded funds to achieve a 20% annual reduction for nitrogen coming from agricultural lands predominantly in Maryland that would otherwise end up in local waters and the Chesapeake Bay.

The project is estimated to reduce approximately 135,500 pounds of nitrogen for the 20-year lifespan of the project for a price of approximately $15 per pound of nitrogen reduced.

-- Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay – Forest Riparian Buffers and Land Use Conversion - $664,175: The will implement two highly effective nutrient and sediment reduction agricultural best management practices on approximately 60 acres of agricultural land within the lower Susquehanna drainage basin. Over 35 acres of new riparian forest buffer will be installed on a farm near Kirkwood, Pa., while over 24 acres of row crop field will be converted to permanent grassland near Havre De Grace, Md.

The projects are estimated to reduce approximately 35,000 pounds of nitrogen for the 15-year lifespan of the projects for a price of approximately $19 per pound of nitrogen reduced.

-- Rosetree Consulting, LLC - Precision Nutrient Management - $772,485: Rosetree will work with farms over 4 growing seasons in Maryland and Pennsylvania to incentivize reductions in commercial nitrogen fertilizer rates where alternative biological products are applied as part of the project. These products, that harness a more sustainable microbial process for promoting plant access to nitrogen sources in the air and soil, avoid the increased likelihood for commercial fertilizers to build up in the soils and leach into the groundwater and/or run off into local streams.

The project is estimated to reduce approximately 123,300 pounds of nitrogen for just the 4-year lifespan of the project for a price of approximately $6 per pound of nitrogen reduced.

-- Keystone Streams, LLC – Forest Riparian Buffers - $1,274,258: The project will restore native forest on approximately 17 acres of open agricultural land along a stream in the lower Susquehanna region of Pennsylvania to reduce nutrient loads from reaching local waters and the Chesapeake Bay. In addition to reducing nutrient and sediment loads, the project's other benefits include, but are not limited to, floodplain protection, creating wildlife habitat and increasing carbon storage.

The project is estimated to reduce approximately 25,700 pounds of nitrogen for the 20-year lifespan of the project for a price of approximately $50 per pound of nitrogen reduced.

-- Ecotone, LLC – Stream Restoration (3 Projects) - $6,647,025: The projects will implement nutrient and sediment load reductions through urban and non-urban stream restoration at three different locations within the Deer Creek Watershed, in both Maryland and Pennsylvania (2 sites in Maryland, 1 in Pennsylvania). Work at each location will include removal of legacy sediment to reconnect the floodplain to improve stream stability and flood resiliency, as well as reduce bank erosion.

The projects are estimated to reduce approximately 48,700 pounds of nitrogen for the 10-year lifespan the projects for an average price of approximately $136 per pound of nitrogen reduced. The approximate price per pound of the three projects ranged from $127 to $150.

For more information, including project summaries, visit SRBC’s Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan webpage. Questions should be directed to: ConowingoWIP@srbc.gov.

For more information on programs, training opportunities and upcoming events, visit the Susquehanna River Basin Commission website. Click Here to sign up for SRBC’s newsletter. Follow SRBC on Twitter, visit them on YouTube.

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