EPA circulated a memo to its regional Water Division directors on March 25 outlining a number of amendments made last year to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) by America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA). Congress passed AWIA into law last October with AMWA’s support, and EPA’s memorandum is intended provide regional directors and states with a “plain language explanation” of the DWSRF revisions made by lawmakers.
EPA’s letter accompanied a document that lists and explains each DWSRF revision under AWIA. The memo asserts that state DWSRF managers “should take particular note of AWIA’s changes to the SDWA that authorize extended infrastructure loan terms, require the provision of additional subsidy to state-defined disadvantaged communities, and expand source water protection-related eligibilities under the Local Assistance set-aside.” The letter also notes that all the changes made by Congress take immediate effect.
Some of the more notable DWSRF updates made by AWIA, and summarized in the March 25 memo, include:
- Increasing DWSRF loan repayment periods from 20 to 30 years (or 40 years in the case of disadvantaged communities), and codifying that funds may be used “for replacing or rehabilitating aging treatment, storage, or distribution facilities of public water systems”;
- Requiring states to use between six and 35 percent of their annual DWSRF capitalization grant for additional subsidies to disadvantaged communities;
- Extending existing “Buy American” rules favoring domestic iron and steel products on DWSRF-funded projects through the 2023 fiscal year;
- Codifying the ability of state primacy agencies to require water systems to explore consolidation options under some circumstances;
- Directing EPA to include, as part of future Drinking Water Needs Surveys, an estimate of the cost of replacing all publicly- and privately-owned lead service lines in the United States; and
- Authorizing supplemental DWSRF assistance for states with community water systems that serve an area subject to a Stafford Act emergency declaration after January 1, 2017.
AWIA also included the first-ever reauthorization of the DWSRF, covering fiscal years 2019 through 2021. AMWA and other water sector associations supported passage of the legislation last year.