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Pacific Southwest, Region 9

Serving: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, Tribal Nations

Drinking Water Tribal Set-Aside Funds

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9
Drinking Water Tribal Set-Aside Program
2017 Guidance and Procedures for Applying for Assistance 

EPA Region 9 (EPA) is pleased to issue the 2017 guidance and procedures for applying for assistance from the Drinking Water Tribal Set-Aside (DWTSA) program. This program provides funding for federally-recognized tribes within Region 9 (California, Nevada, and Arizona) for public drinking water system infrastructure. Funds are awarded through direct grants to tribes or interagency agreements with the Indian Health Service. The funding will be used to address the most significant public health threats for public water systems.

Approximately $6.5 million of FY17 funds may be available. In addition, projects ranking higher than Health Category 9 may be considered under the anticipated FY18 appropriation. Matching funds are not typically required; however, in cases where commercial entities and/or non-tribal populations receive water from the public water system, EPA may require the tribe to provide a funding contribution proportional to the water demand of the commercial entity and/or non-tribal populations. Similarly, to encourage more sustainable water use levels, EPA will continue to require a funding contribution for water systems using over 150 gallons per capita per day for projects whose costs are correlated with water usage. In such instances, the required contribution would be proportional to the amount of water use above 150 gallons per capita per day. Additionally, given the limited funds available under this program and EPA's goal to maximize the number of projects it can fund, EPA may work with applicants to explore the availability of funding from other federal agencies, tribal or third-party sources to contribute to the total project cost.

This assistance will be awarded under Section 300j-12 of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. §1452. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number is 66.468.

Important Dates

November 10, 2016: EPA must receive proposals by this date, including the proposal form Project Proposal Form (DOC) (2 pp, 44K), tribal government endorsement, and any preliminary engineering reports and supporting documents. tribal government endorsement, and any preliminary engineering reports and supporting documents. Proposals received after November 10, 2016 will not be considered for funding.

E-mail one electronic copy of the proposal and any documentation to:

Emmanuelle Rapicavoli (rapicavoli.emmanuelle@epa.gov)

Electronic files exceeding 8MB must either be separated into emails not exceeding 8MB each, or saved on a memory device and mailed.

OR

Mail one hard copy of the proposal and any documentation to:

Emmanuelle Rapicavoli, WTR 3-2
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9
75 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco, CA  94105

December 2016 - EPA will notify each applicant of the draft proposal priority and whether the project was selected to continue with the application process.

February 2017 - Applicants can submit comments on the draft prioritization. For projects selected to continue with the application process, applicants must submit responses to any EPA comments, and capacity and managerial checklists.

March-August 2017 - EPA will notify applicants of the final priority list and funding decision, along with guidance letters for projects to be funded by a grant.

May-August 2017 - Tribe submits grant application, or Indian Health Service submits draft Memorandum of Agreement and Project Summary (exact dates will be included in funding decision notification letters).

September 2017 - EPA awards funds for selected projects.

Contents of Guidelines

  1. Description of Program - 1
  2. Award Information - 4
  3. Eligibility Information - 5
  4. Step 1: Proposal Submission Information - 10
  5. Step 2: Comments on Draft Prioritization, Capacity and Managerial Checklists and Final Feasibility Studies - 13
  6. Step 3: Grant Application/Interagency Agreement Process - 14
  7. Funding Allocation Methodology - 15
  8. Ranking Criteria - 16
  9. Award Administration Information - 18
  10. Agency Contacts - 18
  11. References - 19
    1. Appendix A: Standardized Preliminary Engineering Report Template
    2. Appendix B: Sample Programmatic and Administrative Conditions
    3. Attachment 1: Project Proposal Form (DOC) (2 pp, 45K)

Full Text of the Fiscal Year 2017 DWTSA Guidance (PDF) (52 pp, 1.8 MB)

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