NEWS RELEASE
NORTHERN WATER
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Another round of water-efficient landscape renovations are underway across Northern Colorado, with the help of funding from Northern Water and the organization’s many partnerships with local municipalities, homeowners associations and other entities.
Northern Water is providing about $180,000 in grants to new projects in 2022 through its Water-Efficient Landscape Grant Program, now in its fourth year.
With this year’s funding, Northern Water has contributed about $575,000 in grants over the past four years to 47 projects. When factoring in the matching funds required of each recipient, that’s about $1.15 million total in water-efficient landscape revamps that have gotten underway through the grant program, with those projects covering approximately 5.5 million square feet of landscape within Northern Water’s boundaries.
Grants have ranged from about $2,500 to $20,000, which is the maximum awarded, funding projects that have included irrigation system upgrades, transitions to water-wise plantings, native-grass conversions, incorporation of soil amendments, and more.
In addition to helping fund the projects, Northern Water also provides signage at each site, in an effort to help educate the public about the many benefits of these water-efficient landscapes.
“With the millions of square-feet of landscape that have been renovated, in combination with the countless residents who’ve seen the positive impacts of these projects, this grant program has achieved exactly what we always hoped it would,” said Frank Kinder, Water Efficiency Department Manager at Northern Water.
Here are the 2022 recipients and the projects that Northern Water’s grant program is currently supporting:
Boulder County
- Arapahoe Ridge HOA in Erie, upgrading irrigation systems across 227,810 square-feet of landscape, as well as incorporating low-water plants in portions of its commons areas
Larimer County
- First Christian Church of Loveland, conducting irrigation system upgrades across 40,000-square-feet of landscape
- Harvest Gold HOA in Loveland, upgrading irrigation systems and applying carbon-based soil amendments to improve water infiltration and retention across 120,000 square-feet of its community parks
- Lemay Avenue Estates in Fort Collins, converting 27,053 square-feet of bluegrass to a native grass blend and water-wise plants, as well as well making irrigation system upgrades
- Observatory Village in Fort Collins, replacing bluegrass and overhead irrigation with drip irrigation and native perennials and shrubs across nearly about 2,000 square-feet of narrow street-strip areas
- Parkwood Meadows in Fort Collins, replacing 5,363 square-feet of bluegrass with multiple water-efficient demonstration landscapes, featuring a walking path and a Dog Tuff low-water grass area
- Sunstone Townhomes in Fort Collins, replacing bluegrass and overhead irrigation with low-water plants and drip irrigation across 4,000 square-feet of narrow street-strip areas
- Town of Berthoud, upgrading irrigation systems across 37,350 square-feet of its city parks
Weld County
- City of Evans, developing 4,840 square-feet of demonstration gardens that showcase beautiful, low-water landscape designs and plant material
- First Congregational Church of Greeley, replacing 16,400 square-feet of bluegrass with low-water garden beds
- Highpointe Vista Metro District in Windsor, converting about 5 acres of bluegrass to a native grass blend
Next grant cycle already underway
Meanwhile, Northern Water is already getting the next cycle of Water-Efficient Landscape Grants underway. Here are some key dates:
- Consultations for applicants Now-Sept. 30, 2022
- Accepting applications Oct. 3-Nov. 18, 2022
- Applicants notified Late January 2023
- Contracts signed/projects can start Spring 2023
- Project completion deadline Sept. 30, 2023
Potential applicants are required to take part in a consultation with Northern Water prior to submitting an application. Anyone wanting to schedule a pre-application consultation can do so by calling 800-369-7246 or emailing [email protected].
Additional details and updates about the grant program are available on our website.
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