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NEP
66.456
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The National Estuary Program (NEP) goal is to protect and restore the water quality and estuarine resources of estuaries and associated watersheds designated by the EPA Administrator as estuaries of national significance. The 28 estuaries of national significance, or NEPs, use an ecosystem-based management approach to help achieve their protection and restoration goals. For example, each NEP characterizes the priority problems in its estuary and surrounding watershed, develops a long-term plan known as a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) that identifies actions to address those problems, and identifies partners, including lead entities, who will implement those actions. Implementation of CCMPs can include the following actions: protecting and restoring habitat, including wetlands; supporting water quality protection and restoration, including Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan implementation; monitoring for, assessing the extent of toxics loadings and pathogen contamination, and taking steps to address excess loadings and contamination; implementing stormwater management, reducing non-point source pollution impacts, and promoting the adoption of green infrastructure approaches; preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species and/or managing their impacts; developing and implementing nutrient reduction strategies; conducting climate vulnerability assessments and developing and implementing climate change adaptation strategies and using adaptation tools to promote coastal resilience; and developing and implementing strategies to provide opportunities for residents of urban minority and/or under-served communities to have greater access to urban waters, participate in urban ecosystem restoration, and participate in capacity-building/educational activities. In addition to CCMP implementation, NEPs and other eligible recipients, address urgent and challenging issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of coastal areas. NEP projects funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA, Public Law 117-58), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), should seek to: accelerate and more extensively implement CCMPs, ensure that benefits reach disadvantaged communities, build the adaptive capacity of ecosystems and communities to climate change, and leverage additional resources, including from other IIJA programs. After approval of each estuary program’s equity strategy, EPA will waive non-federal cost-share requirements for FY 2024 – FY 2026 IIJA funds. The purpose of the equity strategy is to ensure that each NEP is reviewing potential projects and utilization of IIJA funds through the lens of equitable and fair access to the benefits from environmental programs for all individuals. The equity strategy should outline how IIJA funds will be utilized to increase investments in disadvantaged communities and the benefits that flow to them. EPA's funding priority is to award assistance agreements that support the 28 National Estuary Programs' (NEPs) efforts to address their estuarine watersheds' priority problems identified in each of the 28 long-term management plans known as Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plans (CCMPs). EPA will provide focused support for NEPs to address priority problems identified by NEP management conferences and to document accomplishments and environmental results. NEP efforts address such problems as: (1) impacts on estuarine water quality and living resources of nutrients, toxics (chemical, heavy metals), pathogen contamination, and sediment attributable to excess loadings and non-point stormwater runoff; e.g., excess nutrient loadings can result in nutrient over-enrichment and hypoxic conditions in estuarine water bodies; (2) habitat loss/degradation; (3) risks to CCMP implementation due to climate change impacts, and adaptation strategies to build regional, local, and tribal officials' capacity to address climate change impacts on NEP watersheds, and to promote community resilience. Activities that build capacity include conducting vulnerability assessments and developing and implementing climate adaptation strategies and programs; and 4) need for decision makers in estuarine communities to implement sustainable land use, green infrastructure, and low-impact development best practices. In FY 2023, EPA also funded through the NEP Coastal Watersheds Grant an intermediary organization to fund subawards that support projects that address urgent and challenging issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of coastal and estuarine areas.
This chart shows obligations for the program by fiscal year. All data for this chart was provided by the
administering agency and sourced from SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, and Treasury.gov.
For more information on each of these data sources, please see the
About the data page.
In FY 16, grants will support the NEP’s CCMP implementation by funding NEP efforts that include: protecting and restoring up to 100,000 acres of estuarine habitat; protecting and restoring estuarine water quality in NEP study areas; supporting core Clean Water Act programs like those that target stormwater, excess nutrients, and pathogens and promoting adoption of green infrastructure approaches to reduce the impacts of stormwater and non-point source pollution; conducting vulnerability assessments and/or implementing climate adaptation strategies in over 50% of NEP study areas and collaborating with other EPA programs and with agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to build regional, local, and tribal coastal community resilience to impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems, public health, and economies; building local capacity to reach out to and involve urban community residents who typically may not have had access to water bodies in NEP study areas nor have been actively engaged in urban water body protection and restoration. Maintaining high-quality habitat is one way of ensuring the health of the nation’s estuaries. Since 2000, the NEPs and their partners have protected and restored over 1.5 million acres of habitat in the 28 NEP estuarine watersheds. The acreage protected and restored by the NEPs and their partners enhances the 28 NEP’s capacity to support healthy populations of wildlife and near-coastal and marine organisms, including many commercially-valuable shellfish and finfish. That acreage also enhances the 28 estuarine watersheds’ capacity to support the economic and ecosystem services and aesthetic qualities provided by estuarine environments and on which coastal populations depend for their livelihoods and well-being. In FY 16, the NEPs and their partners protected and restored approximately 111,584 acres of estuarine habitat in their estuarine watersheds.
In FY 17, grants supported the NEP’s CCMP implementation by funding NEP efforts that include: protecting and restoring up to100,000 acres of estuarine habitat; protecting and restoring estuarine water quality in NEP study areas; supporting core Clean Water Act programs like those that target excess nutrients and pathogens, and promoting adoption of green infrastructure approaches to reduce the impacts of stormwater and non-point source pollution; conducting vulnerability assessments and/or implementing climate adaptation strategies in over 50% of NEP study areas and collaborating with other EPA programs and with agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to build regional and local coastal community resilience to impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems, public health, and economies; building local capacity to reach out to and involve urban community residents who typically may not have had access to water bodies in NEP study areas nor have been actively engaged in urban water body protection and restoration.
In FY 18, grants supported the NEP’s CCMP implementation by funding NEP efforts that include: protecting and restoring up to 100,000 acres of estuarine habitat; protecting and restoring estuarine water quality in NEP study areas; supporting core Clean Water Act programs like those that target excess nutrients and pathogens, and promoting adoption of green infrastructure approaches to reduce the impacts of stormwater and non-point source pollution; conducting vulnerability assessments and/or implementing climate adaptation strategies in NEP study areas, and collaborating with other EPA programs and with other Federal, State, and local agencies, business, and non-governmental organizations to build regional, state, and local coastal community resilience to impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems, public health, and economies; building local capacity to reach out to and involve urban community residents who typically may not have had access to water bodies in NEP study areas nor have been actively engaged in urban water body protection and restoration.
FY 2022 grants supported the NEP’s CCMP implementation by funding NEP efforts that include: protecting and restoring up to 100,000 acres of estuarine habitat; protecting and restoring estuarine water quality in NEP study areas; supporting core Clean Water Act programs like those that target excess nutrients and pathogens, and promoting adoption of green infrastructure approaches to reduce the impacts of stormwater and non-point source pollution; conducting vulnerability assessments and/or developing and implementing climate adaptation strategies, and collaborating with other EPA programs and with other Federal, State, and local agencies, business, and non-governmental organizations to build regional, state, and local coastal community resilience to impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems, public health, and economies; building local capacity to engage with disadvantaged communities who typically may not have had access to water bodies in NEP study areas nor have been actively engaged in water body protection and restoration. In addition to CCMP implementation, NEPs and other eligible recipients, address urgent and challenging issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of coastal areas.
FY 2024 grants continued to support the NEP’s CCMP implementation by funding NEP efforts that include: protecting and restoring estuarine habitat; protecting and restoring estuarine water quality in NEP study areas; supporting core Clean Water Act programs like those that target excess nutrients and pathogens, and promoting adoption of green infrastructure approaches to reduce the impacts of stormwater and non-point source pollution; conducting vulnerability assessments and/or developing and implementing climate adaptation strategies, and collaborating with other EPA programs and with other Federal, State, and local agencies, business, and non-governmental organizations to build regional, state, and local coastal community resilience to impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems, public health, and economies; building local capacity to engage with disadvantaged communities who typically may not have had access to water bodies in NEP study areas nor have been actively engaged in water body protection and restoration. In addition to CCMP implementation, NEPs and other eligible recipients, address urgent and challenging issues that threaten the ecological and economic well-being of coastal areas.
Single Audit Applies (2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F):
For additional information on single audit requirements for this program, review the current Compliance Supplement.
OMB is working with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and agency offices of inspectors general to include links to relevant oversight reports. This section will be updated once this information is made available.
