The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a June 5th memorandum titled:
National Priorities for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program (“Memorandum”)
The Memorandum was authored by Jennifer l. McLain, Acting Director of the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water and transmitted to EPA Regions Water Division Directors.
The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (“DWSRF”) is a Congressionally established program which is a federal-state partnership addressing drinking water. It was created by the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act and provides financial support to water systems and to state safe water programs.
EPA awards capitalization grants to each state for their DWSRF. Such awards are based upon a Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment. The states are required to provide a 20 percent match.
EPA’s June 25th Memorandum notes that the program:
. . . is approaching nearly $40 billion in cumulative loans and other assistance agreements with communities to build, repair, and improve drinking water infrastructure.
The states are stated to “have utilized over $3 billion towards:
- Operator certification programs
- Water system capacity development
- Source water protection
- Other activities supporting safe drinking water
The Memorandum asks the EPA Region Water Division Directors to work with the states to advance four specific national program priorities:
- Achieve fullest utilization of funds through dynamic cash flow modeling
- Market DWSRF opportunities to water systems
- Employ both the DWSRF loan fund and set-asides as Safe Drinking Water Act compliance tools
- Safeguard the program’s public trust through fiscal controls and accountability
A copy of the Memorandum can be found here.
