EPA Announces Availability Of $2.6B In New Funding To Improve Water Infrastructure Across The United States

More than $125M provided to EPA Region 8 States

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced the availability of more than $125M in new funds to improve drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in the EPA Region 8 states of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

These funds are part of $2.6B provided nationwide to assist states, tribes and territories with improving drinking water and wastewater infrastructure across the country. This funding advances President Trump’s efforts to rebuild the country’s aging water infrastructure, create local jobs, and ensure all Americans have safe and clean water.

“EPA is delivering on President Trump’s commitment to modernize our nation’s water infrastructure and improve public health and environmental protections,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.“EPA’s $2.6B contribution to the State Revolving Funds will enable more communities to make the investments needed to ensure Americans have safe water for drinking and recreation. These funds can also be combined with EPA’s WIFIA loans to create a powerful, innovative financing solution for major infrastructure projects nationwide.”

“These resources will help our states invest in infrastructure projects that will secure safe drinking water and healthy rivers and streams for decades to come,” said EPA Regional Administrator Gregory Sopkin.“They will improve public health and the environment in communities across the region.”

State Revolving Funds (SRFs) require state match, loan repayments, and interest that flows back to the funds. With more than 30 years of federal capitalization grants and state contributions, approximately $80B has been invested into these programs. According to the agency’s estimate of national drinking water and wastewater needs, over $743B is needed for water infrastructure improvements. Through loan repayments and investment earnings, the SRFs have leveraged these contributions to provide more than $170B in financial assistance to over 39,900 water quality infrastructure projects and 14,500 drinking water projects across the country.

This year, EPA is making available more than $1B in new federal grant funding for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF).This funding can be used for loans that help drinking water systems install controls to treat contaminants such as PFAS and improve distribution systems by removing lead service lines. In addition, more than $50M in DWSRF grant funding is available to tribes, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia to use for drinking water system upgrades.

EPA is also providing approximately $1.6B in new federal grant funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). This funding is available for a wide range of water infrastructure projects, including modernizing aging wastewater infrastructure, implementing water reuse and recycling, and addressing stormwater. More than $64M in CWSRF grant funding is available to tribes, certain U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia for infrastructure projects.

Background:
Under the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs, EPA provides funding to all 50 states and Puerto Rico to capitalize SRF loan programs. The states and Puerto Rico contribute an additional 20% to match the federal grants. The 51 SRF programs function like infrastructure banks by providing low-interest loans to eligible recipients for drinking water and clean water infrastructure projects. As the loan principal and interest are repaid over time, it allows the state’s DWSRF or CWSRF to be recycled or “revolve.” As money is returned to the state’s revolving loan fund, the state makes new loans to other eligible recipients.

In 2018, the SRFs committed $9.6B in drinking water and clean water infrastructure loans and refinancing and disbursed $8.8B for drinking water and clean water infrastructure.

For more information, visit https://www.epa.gov/drinkingwatersrf and https://www.epa.gov/cwsrf