Stormwater Centers of Excellence Grant

Stormwater is a significant source of water pollution, threatening the health of waterways nationwide; however, financial and engineering challenges make stormwater difficult for communities to manage. Recognizing this, in March of 2024, EPA announced the availability of $5 million in grant funding through the new Centers of Excellence for Stormwater Control Infrastructure Technologies Grant Program.

The $5 million funding supports the creation and maintenance of four regional Centers of Excellence dedicated to advancing stormwater infrastructure technologies. The Centers of Excellence will play a crucial role in conducting research on new and emerging stormwater control infrastructure technologies and alternative funding approaches, providing technical assistance to state, Tribal, and local governments, supporting stormwater infrastructure improvements that protect public health and safeguard the environment.

Funding also supported one award to create and maintain a national electronic clearinghouse that contains information relating to new and emerging stormwater control infrastructure technologies.

Fiscal Year 2023/2024 Grant Recipients

On July 9, 2024, EPA announced it would award $5 million in grants to establish four new Centers of Excellence for Stormwater Control Infrastructure Technologies and a national clearinghouse for new and emerging stormwater control technologies. Four of the awards are to establish new Centers of Excellence for Stormwater, which will enhance efforts to support the nation’s water infrastructure and protect water quality. The four Centers of Excellence are:

Great Plains Stormwater Center of Excellence (GPSCOE)
Cold Climate Center of Excellence for Stormwater Control Infrastructure Technology (CCCESIT)
Southwest Stormwater Center of Excellence (SWC)
Coastal Stormwater Center of the Southeast (CSC)

EPA also selected the Center for Watershed Protection, Inc. to establish a national electronic clearinghouse that contains information about new and emerging stormwater control infrastructure technologies and funding approaches. The national electronic clearinghouse will be populated with research, best practices, and outreach from each Center of Excellence, and promoted with other organizations to expand the availability of water technical assistance, including States, Tribes, local governments, and small communities.

Great Plains Stormwater Center of Excellence (GPSCOE)

The Great Plains Stormwater Center of Excellence (GPSCOE) is a collaborative initiative amongst five universities to improve stormwater management across the Great Plains through research, technical assistance, and outreach. The overall goal of the GPSCOE is to connect innovation to stakeholders through activities such as guidance for funding strategies and responses to extreme weather events, development GIS-based tools to support small communities, outreach activities such as a peer city network and a regional conference and applied research on stormwater BMPs and smart infrastructure.

Cold Climate Center of Excellence for Stormwater Control Infrastructure Technology (CCCESIT)

The Cold Climate Stormwater Center of Excellence (CCSC0E) is helping the public and stormwater professionals by reducing nutrient and chloride pollution through research on better bioretention and rain garden soils and improving salt application training. The CCSCoE is distributing information and providing technical assistance by partnering with the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA) and local community experts in states and provinces throughout the cold climate region.

Southwest Stormwater Center of Excellence (SWC)

The arid and semi-arid Southwest faces unique stormwater management challenges, with long dry seasons interrupted by short, intense storms that strain many conventional best management practices (BMPs). The Southwest Stormwater Center of Excellence (SWC) partners with regional stakeholders and academic institutions to develop practical, science-based solutions tailored to these conditions. This includes technical assistance on regionally appropriate BMP design and monitoring, stormwater capture and reuse, planning frameworks for water quality improvement, and practitioner-ready funding resources to support municipal, Tribal, and rural communities.

Coastal Stormwater Center of the Southeast (CSC)

The Coastal Stormwater Center of the Southeast (CSC), led by the Center for Watershed Protection, plays an important role in improving stormwater infrastructure by conducting research; providing technical assistance to state, tribal and local governments in coastal Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama; and collaborating with partners through the coastal southeast region to deliver research and assistance to communities. The CSC’s research will help coastal communities in the southeast determine how to incorporate precipitation projections into their programs, plans, and designs; select appropriate strategies to adapt to expected climate impacts; and select and site BMPs that work with the conditions in the coastal plain. Additionally, University of Florida is investigating low-cost, real-time compound flood monitoring technology and East Carolina University is mapping shallow groundwater and studying its effect on stormwater infrastructure.

Grant-Related Resources

For comments or questions, email the stormwater centers email box (stormwatercenters@epa.gov).