The Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) announced last month selection
of 30 recipients to receive funding under the
FEMA 2012 Community Resilience Innovation
Challenge program.
The program attracted 1,900 applications
and among the select group of recipients is the
Lake George Water Quality Awareness Committees
(WQACs) initiative, created by The Fund
for Lake George.
Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the FEMA program aims to build local community resilience, with an emphasis on innovation, collaboration with community stakeholders, sustainability, repeatability and measurable benefits to the community.
The WQACs initiative received the maximum grant amount of $35,000.
With five committees already established and more being formed, WQACs are comprised of Lake George residents who share concern over declining lake health. In this initial outreach phase, homeowners associations, garden clubs and other community groups have served as productive outlets for access and engagement, officials said. Delivery of a common message and specially prepared materials will build coordinated understanding of the issues and their solutions that will then be harnessed to realize sustaining benefits to the lake that would otherwise not be achievable.
According to The Fund, WQACs will be coordinating actions basin-wide to protect the lake. Linking neighbors via organized outreach and an interactive website, WQACs will work to resolve direct threats to drinking water quality from septic systems, fertilizer and pesticide use, unmanaged storm water runoff, and more. Recognizing the nexus between the problems facing the lake (largely local in origin), and the constituency best positioned to bring about solutions (local communities relying on the lake), The FUND for Lake George catalyzed creation of the WQACs initiative and is now supporting them in understanding the science of the lake and the specific measures needed to protect water quality, said officials.
Lisa Adamson, founding member of the Assembly Point WQAC, introduced The Fund to the FEMA opportunity. “With this grant, we can continue to engage others within the Lake George watershed to become active partners in the WQAC initiative. We have a very large task at hand, to encourage active involvement by all stakeholders that enjoy Lake George. Together, we will make a lasting difference,” said Adamson.
“Receiving this FEMA grant will allow us to expand our activities with many more communities committed to protecting our drinking water and irreplaceable natural resources,” said Dana Seguljic of the Diamond Point Water Quality Awareness Committee.
“Water Quality Awareness Committees promise to form a ring of protection around the lake that can become a model for citizen preparedness and engagement. Community action is essential to sustained protection and this funding could not have come at a better time as Lake George faces unprecedented threats to its water quality,” said Eric Siy, executive director of The Fund for Lake George.
More information is available by contacting The FUND for Lake George. For additional information about the FEMA program and grant recipients, visit FEMA’s Resilience Challenge website at http://www.resiliencechallenge.org.
The FUND for Lake George is a not-for-profit, privately funded organization dedicated to the protection of Lake George. Formed in 1980, the FUND applies a science-based approach to protection focused on Lake George water quality and the overall health of the Lake George watershed.