Water Infrastructure Funding Assistance for D.C. and Territories under the Clean Water Act
EPA’s Title ll Program supports the agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment by providing communities in the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories with necessary infrastructure to meet the standards established in the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
EPA allots a portion of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) as grants to Washington, D.C., and the U.S. territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. When the State Revolving Fund loan programs were established, D.C. and the U.S. territories continued to receive their water infrastructure funds as grants, as opposed to loans. The grant program allows the U.S. territories and D.C. to improve compliance with the SDWA and CWA, provide safe drinking water, and protect the environment. See CWSRF and DWSRF allotments for more information.
Eligible Systems and Projects
Eligible Systems
To participate in the program, applicants must meet the following eligibilities as described in 40 CFR 35.2000:
- Be from the aforementioned jurisdictions;
- A public body created under jurisdiction law or an Indian tribe or an authorized tribal organization, having jurisdiction for treatment, transport, or disposal of domestic wastewater in a particular geographic area;
- Be a designated and approved management agency authorized in a Water Quality Management (WQM) plan.
Projects
Section 201(g) of the CWA requires that all proposed projects fit into one of the following categories to be eligible for grant funding:
- Secondary treatment or any cost-effective alternative
- Treatment that is more stringent than secondary treatment or any cost-effective alternative
- New interceptors and appurtenances
- Infiltration/inflow (I/I) correction
How are the funds managed? How are grants awarded?
EPA Region 2 (USVI), Region 3 (D.C.), and Region 9 (Guam, American Samoa, CNMI) award and manage these grants. EPA may award a grant to either a territorial government or directly to a territorial public water system. If the grant is awarded to a territorial government, that government selects projects to fund.
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Funding and Guidance
On August 23, 2022, EPA issued the memorandum Implementation of the District of Columbia and the U.S. Territories Clean Water and Drinking Water Allocations of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (pdf) to help implement over $173 million for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs in the District of Columbia and the U.S. Territories. As part of the memorandum, EPA is providing information and guidelines on how it will award and administer Fiscal Year 2022 allocations of $63 million to D.C. and $110 million to the Territories, including American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As directed by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, this funding will allow D.C. and the Territories to improve compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act and protect the environment.
The memorandum issued August 23, 2022, follows the March 8, 2022 memorandum Implementation of the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which described the overall implementation approach for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, including dedicated funding for emerging contaminants and lead service line replacement.