NHDES administers a Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund (DWSRF) Program and a Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (CWSRF) Program. These programs provide low interest loan funds to eligible water and wastewater systems for eligible projects as defined by EPA. Funds for these programs come from:
- EPA annual capitalization grant.
- New Hampshire’s annual capital budget which is required to provide a 20% match to the USEPA capitalization grant.
- Repaid loan funds from prior year loans. Annually the DWSRF and CWSRF programs each develop an Intended Use Plan (IUP) for review and approval by EPA.
One of the elements of an IUP is to establish the criteria that will be used to develop a Project Priority List (PPL), which ranks projects that water and wastewater systems submit for funding. Projects on the PPL are funded based on their ranking and the availability of funding.
For initial budgeting and planning purposes, NHDES allocated $75 million of the $150 million to offer grants for projects on the DWSRF and CWSRF PPLs for water infrastructure projects. ARPA grant funds budgeted for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure projects are using the annual solicitation for the DWSRF and CWSRF loan programs. ARPA grants offered under this category will be directed to a large variety of critical projects across the state including but not limited to:
- Wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) upgrades and combined sewer overflows (CSOs).
- Stormwater system upgrades.
- Drinking water treatment and distribution system upgrades/ replacements.
- Development of new water supplies.
Project selection will be in accordance with the DWSRF and CWSRF project ranking criteria, which prioritizes public health and achieves the objectives of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act. ARPA funds applied in this category will benefit the communities by incentivizing projects to move forward.
For many projects, ARPA grant offers may be combined with SRF loan funds. Additionally, some projects on the PPLs may receive ARPA-only grant offers beyond the available SRF loan funds. These recipients would need to secure grants and/or loans from other sources.
The recommended ARPA grant percentage calculation is aligned with the Affordability Index as described in the DWSRF IUP and Affordability Score as described in the CWSRF IUP. The budget allows for grant amounts for drinking water and clean water (wastewater and stormwater) projects that were submitted in the 2021 SRF round as described in the tables below.
Drinking Water Infrastructure Project ARPA Offer Percentages
| Affordability Index | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0 to < 5.0 | The maximum | |||
| 1.5 to < 1.9 | total grant amount to any | |||
| 0.8 to < 1.4 | water system is $2,000,000. | |||
| 0.0 to < 0.7 |
Clean Water Infrastructure Project ARPA Offer Percentages
Clean Water (Wastewater and Stormwater)
| Affordability Score (Wastewater Only) | Percent of SRF Requested Funded with ARPA Grant | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 to 1.32 | The maximum total grant amount to any community is $2,000,000. | |||
| 1.33 to 2.65 | *All stormwater infrastructure projects shall receive this amount. | |||
| 2.66 to 3.99 | ||||
| >= 4.0 |
How and when to Apply
NHDES is using the 2021 applications received in the June 2021 DWSRF and CWSRF solicitation for initial offers of ARPA grant funds. Depending on the available ARPA grant funds budgeted for this program, the June 2022 DWSRF and CWSRF infrastructure project solicitation will be utilized for additional ARPA grant offers.
Contacts
Drinking Water – Johnna McKenna (Johnna.mckenna@des.nh.gov)
Clean Water – Kathleen Bourret (Kathleen.bourret@des.nh.gov)
Stormwater – Deborah Loiselle (Deborah.S.Loiselle@des.nh.gov)
Relevant Links for Water Infrastructure Funding Information: