Signed into law on November 15, 2021, the landmark Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocates $10 billion for the remediation of PFAS in drinking water. In turn, the bill divides the $10 billion into three categories: (1) $1 billion for the PFAS Clean Water State Revolving Fund (“CWSRF”); (2) $5 billion for the PFAS Small & Disadvantaged Fund; and (3) $4 billion to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (“DWSRF”). All three of the funding categories are available to states and tribes, who may then distribute funds according to specific guidelines set forth in the new law, including, depending on the specific fund, allocations to privately-owned community water systems, publicly-owned community water systems, non-profit non-community water systems, municipal, intermunicipal, interstate, or State agencies (“Recipients”).

The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (“CWSRF”)

The CWSRF functions like an environmental infrastructure bank by providing low-interest loans to eligible borrowers for water infrastructure projects. First, money is distributed into each Recipient’s CWSRF, and the Recipient in turn will make new loans to borrowers for high-priority water-quality activities. Eligible borrowers include any municipality, intermunicipal, interstate, or state agency that will use the funds for the construction of publicly owned treatment works in that state or tribe’s geographic area.

PFAS Small & Disadvantaged Fund

The PFAS Small & Disadvantaged Fund authorizes the EPA to award grants to states to assist underserved, small, and disadvantaged communities that are unable to finance activities needed to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”). Grants are awarded to states and tribes to support underserved communities that meet the small or disadvantaged statutory definition. Specifically, a small or disadvantaged community is one that: (1) the state determines to be a disadvantaged community under SDWA § 1452(d)(3); (2) may become a disadvantaged community as a result of carrying out a project or activity; or (3) has a population of less than 10,000 individuals that does not have the capacity to incur debt sufficient to finance a project to comply with the SDWA.

Projects eligible for assistance include:

• projects that return a public water system to compliance;

• efforts that benefit disadvantaged communities on a per household basis;

• programs to provide household water quality testing, including testing for unregulated contaminants; and

• activities necessary for a state to respond to a contaminant.

Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (“DWSRF”)

The DWSRF is a financial assistance program to help states to achieve the health protection objectives set out in the SDWA. Congress appropriates funding for the DWSRF, and the EPA then awards capitalization grants to each state based upon the results of the most recent Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment. In turn, the state provides a twenty percent match. States will place the balance of their capitalization grant, together with the state match, into a dedicated revolving loan fund.

This revolving fund provides loans and other authorized assistance to water systems for eligible infrastructure projects. Eligible borrowers from each DWSRF include:

• “Existing privately-owned and publicly-owned community water systems and non-profit non-community water systems, including systems utilizing point of entry or residential central treatment.”

• “New community water systems that represent cost-effective solutions to existing public health problems with [certain] serious risks . . . .”

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Entities involved in PFAS drinking water remediation projects who wish to receive funding from any of these three sources should track the funding as it is distributed and submit proposals directly to funding Recipients for project involvement. If you need assistance with that process, the staff of the newsletter stands ready to assist!