From the Community Conservation Assistance Program 

The Community Conservation Assistance Program is a voluntary, incentive-based program designed to improve water quality through the installation of various best management practices on urban, suburban and rural lands not directly involved in agriculture production.

Interested landowners, homeowners, businesses, schools, parks and publicly owned lands may apply to the Hyde Soil & Water Conservation District for financial and technical assistance for the installation of BMPs to protect water quality. Applications are ranked based on local water quality priorities and, if eligible, a conservation plan is prepared. Landowners and others may receive financial assistance of up to 75 percent of the pre-established average cost of the BMP.

The following are a few of the BMPs available through the district:

• Cisterns: Above or below the ground storage tanks for rainwater harvesting systems used to collect, store and reuse rainwater. They are intended to reduce storm water runoff, encourage runoff infiltration and conserve water.
• Streambank and shoreline protection: The use of vegetation to stabilize and protect banks of streams, lakes, estuaries or excavated channels against scour and erosion. This practice should be used to prevent the loss of land or damage to utilities, roads, buildings or other facilities adjacent to the banks, to maintain the capacity of the channel, to control channel meander that would adversely affect downstream facilities, to reduce sediment load causing downstream damages and pollution or to improve the stream for recreation or fish and wildlife habitat.

If interested in what this program may offer, please stop by the Hyde Soil & Water Conservation District office located at 30 Oyster Creek Road, Hyde Government Center, Suite 117, in Swan Quarter.