The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a Bipartisan Resources on Drinking Water Infrastructure Law webpage that features resources designed to assist states and water systems, including AMWA members, in implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act (BIL). Water utilities can find resources about underserved communities, building water supply system capacity, water security, and fact sheets on the State Revolving Fund for Water. Drinking Water (DWSRF) on the webpage.
The DWSRF Definitions of Disadvantaged Communities: A Reference for States, highlighted on the page, includes information about how states have historically defined disadvantaged communities, including the socioeconomic, demographic, financial, environmental, and other indicators they have used. The handbook also includes information on each state’s historical distribution and use of additional grants allocated to disadvantaged communities.
Although the EPA produced the manual as a reference for states, utility managers can learn more about the DWSRF’s Supplemental Subsidy Document, which is a tool to further improve the affordability of utility agreements. DWSRF assistance for disadvantaged communities. Pending implementation of the BIL, the EPA indicates that it intends for states to use the manual as a resource for state DWSRF programs that wish to update their definitions of underserved communities.
