NJDEP outlines next steps, reporting and documentation for 2025 water-quality grantees

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection held an information session for awardees of its 2025 Water Quality Restoration grants, outlining the process for finalizing grant agreements, reporting requirements and documentation needed to receive reimbursements.

Catherine Schaffer, manager of the Bureau of Watershed Management in the Division of Watershed Protection and Restoration, said grant managers will post comments in the SAGE system and grantees should address requested modifications there so DEP can draft grant agreements. "Please note, work can only begin when the grant agreement is fully executed, and it can take 6 to 12 months for a grant to be executed," Schaffer said.

Why it matters: Grantees must follow the SAGE-driven modification and agreement workflow to move from award to execution. DEP staff emphasized that timely responses to modification requests speed the approvals process and that some changes (including no-cost time extensions) can delay execution.

What DEP told grantees

- Modification and SAGE workflow: Jennifer Nublihis, who led the grant-agreement overview, said authorized officials will receive email notifications when modifications are required and must update the Grantee Evaluation Summary and application pages in SAGE. The application text will form the scope of work used in the grant agreement, Nublihis said.

- Early work and advance payments: Nublihis described two…