Denham Springs recovery coordinator Jeanette Clark (left) and building inspector/floodplain manager Rick Foster will be integral in the Louisiana Watershed Initiative grant process for the city.
Potential funds will be available for a vast array of mitigation projects, for those who choose to apply.
Tuesday night, Denham Springs will enter into the pre-application phase for the first round of funding from the Louisiana Watershed Initiative (LWI). The total amount that will be distributed in 2020, throughout the state, is $100 million and the city will have to present their own desires for projects to the LWI for approval.
Denham Springs is part of watershed 7, which encompasses areas of Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Livingston itself, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington, and St. Tammany. Representatives from the watershed met with the LWI this past Friday at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library branch on Bluebonnet to learn about the programs process and grant application requirements.
Representatives from the parish itself were not in attendance.
The pre-application is simply to enter into the program. Denham Springs will still have to determine the projects in which they wish to apply, knowing that watershed-level projects will receive more consideration from the LWI. LWI will have a steering committee to determine which projects will be selected, per phase.
The phases roll out every other year, so 2020, 2022, and 2024.
You can read about the LWI below, and the city council will meet at 6 p.m. in the new city hall.
