Upper White River Basin Foundation Inc.

“The initial review of the 990 is performed by the president. After his approval, the return is provided to the board of trustees.”

“Board members annually sign affirmations of compliance with the organization's conflict of interest policies. Interested persons: any director, principal officer, member of a committee with governing board delegated power, or a person with a financial interest. Interested persons must disclose the existence of a possible conflict of interest. Once disclosed, the board reviews the situation and determines if a conflict exists. The board will vote to accept or reject the transaction with the interested person. The interested person is not allowed to vote.”

“Compensation of the organization's president is reviewed using comparative salaries and compensation information and approved by the board of directors.”

“Governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are made available to the public upon request.”

“On september 9, 2022, the foundation entered into a grant agreement with the arkansas natural resources commission to establish a septic tank remediation program for protection of the buffalo river watershed in arkansas. The foundation is to receive an amount up to 278,400 from the water development fund for the administration of a 1,000,000 construction grant from the clean water state revolving fund for a three-year project period. The program offers financial and technical assistance to homeowners in need of septic repair or replacement within the buffalo river watershed. Funding is a combination of grant and/or zero-interest loan based on household income. Up to 90% of the total project cost may be covered by the grant, which requires zero payback by the homeowner. The foundation entered into an agreement with beaver water district to conduct research on the impact of septic systems on water quality in streams across the beaver lake watershed. This project includes geospatial analysis and water quality sampling. The goal is to collect data that can relate septic system density, proximity to streams, and other metrics to water quality indicators. This project can inform future policy decisions related to the maintenance and functioning of septic systems. This project period is from october 2022 through september 2023. The foundation entered into a subgrant agreement with the arkansas department of agriculture natural resources division through a section 319 grant from the u.s. Environmental protection agency to develop and prepare an epa-accepted nine-element watershed-based plan for the upper white river basin, a huc-8 (11010001) priority watershed in arkansas. Part of this project is to engage stakeholders and generate local support for the plan and its implementation. The overall goal is to prioritize subwatersheds, identify projects to reduce pollutants, and help ensure that waterways meet their designated uses. The project began on october 1, 2022 and the final plan and report will be completed by march 30, 2024. The foundation entered into a subgrant agreement with ozarks environmental and water resources institute (oweri) to develop a watershed management plan for lake taneycomo watershed. The foundation formed and facilitates an advisory committee to share information and input to guide the watershed management planning, nonpoint modeling, and demonstration project for lake taneycomo - white river watershed writing process. The foundation facilitates stakeholder meetings that include, but is not limited to, the foundation staff, oweri staff, missouri department of conservation staff, officials and/or staff from all cities along lake taneycomo, dam operators, and other community leader and members. The goal of this project is to develop a 9-element watershed-based plan for the lake taneycomo-white river watershed, as well as implement two demonstration projects within the watershed. The foundation will keep local stakeholders informed of the plan writing process and garner input and buy-in with the plan and demonstration projects. The foundation will also tour the demonstration projects during the process to provide information to stakeholders on project progress. The foundation applied for and received a 3,000 grant throught the table rock lake community foundation to administer a pump-out rebate program for homeowners around table rock lake. This program provides a financial incentive to homeowners to have their septic tanks pumped out. The foundation publishes an email newsletter distributed to over 2,500 subscribers dealing with water quality issues in the upper white river basin watershed. In addition, the foundation's website and social media presence provides access to water quality information for the general public, regulators, and elected officials. The foundation continues an outreach initiative that has 3 objectives: 1. Provide support to other water quality groups; 2. Sponsor other water quality groups e”