Assistance program
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
$28.4 Billion committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Protection Agency
- Assistance
- Formula Grants
- CFDA number
- 66.468
- What it does
- To provide a low-cost, long-term source of drinking water infrastructure financing, EPA awards capitalization grants to States and Puerto Rico to capitalize their Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (DWSRFs). EPA also awards construction grants to the District of Columbia, U.S. Territories (Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and Guam), and Indian Tribes. Funding Priority - Fiscal Year 2023: The funding priority established by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is for capitalization grants to each state for infrastructure improvement projects that are needed to address the most serious risk to human health, are necessary to achieve or maintain compliance with SDWA requirements, and assist systems most in need on a per household basis according to State affordability criteria. A state may use a portion of the capitalization grant funds for programs emphasizing contamination prevention through technical assistance, capacity development, operator certification, and source water protection. The program supports the Agency's strategic goal of providing for clean and safe water. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), 2021, (Public Law 117-58), makes available additional capitalization grants to each state and construction grants to the other listed entities for the purpose of providing assistance through the Drinking Water SRF to: (1) activities identified above, (2) activities identified above for projects that address emerging contaminants in drinking water, and (3) activities identified above for projects that identify and replace lead service lines (including related planning and design projects and activities). The capitalization grant is deposited in the State's DWSRF, which is used to provide loans and other types of financial assistance to public water systems as described in Section 1452 of the SDWA. A maximum of four percent of the grant amounts, $400,000 each year, or 1/5 percent per year of the current valuation (total net position) of the fund, whichever is greatest, may be used by the States for the cost of administering the DWSRF. States may discretionally take other “set-asides†for small system technical assistance, state program management, and local assistance as described in Section 1452 of the SDWA. States determine priorities for funding within their State in accordance with the SDWA. For the 51 State DWSRFs, a portion of the capitalization grant funding must be used to provide additional subsidy in the form of grants, principal forgiveness, or negative interest loans.