Council adds 'pollutants and contaminants' as a grant priority

Council members debated whether PFAS, microplastics and other emerging contaminants should be a separate grant priority or remain a subcategory under water and soil quality monitoring. After multiple speakers urged keeping the language broad to allow both monitoring and management activities, a motion was put forward and the council voted to add 'pollutants and contaminants' as a separate priority in the mini-grant guidelines.

Members discussed phrasing to avoid unintentionally narrowing the program to only novel contaminants; staff said the posted guidelines would be updated on the council website after the meeting and that grant committees would be asked to review proposals in mid-December.