EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a memorandum notifying the Office of Water and EPA Region 9 that it “plans to begin preliminary research on the pace of state expenditures in the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund [DWSRF] program.” The review, part OIG’s 2013 annual plan, will assess the barriers to the expedient use of federal DWSRF funds, EPA and state actions to reduce the amount of unobligated funds and the internal controls in place to mange the process. Unobligated DWSRF funds have become a high priority issue for EPA and states as end-of-year carryovers have been a target for potential elimination in recent Congressional budget debates (see article on page 2). Kick-off meetings on the review process are scheduled to begin this week.