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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Energy | Environment
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $49 million in new technical assistance funding to help rural, small, and tribal communities address urgent wastewater and water quality issues.
The grant funding opportunity, part of the Biden administration's broader environmental justice efforts, aims to close infrastructure gaps that disproportionately affect these communities, according to a statement.
The funds will be directed to technical assistance providers who will work with communities to assess water infrastructure needs, provide training, and guide them toward available funding options, including those under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Bruno Pigott, EPA's Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water, emphasized the importance of this initiative. "There are far too many people in this country dealing with broken, old, or simply non-existent water infrastructure," Pigott said in a statement. "This $49 million will help more rural, small, and Tribal communities address pressing water challenges while advancing the Biden-Harris administration's efforts to close the water equity gap in our country."
Tribal communities often face unique challenges in water infrastructure, including aging systems, workforce shortages, rising costs, and shrinking rate bases. The funding is designed to provide support for identifying water infrastructure issues, improving technical and managerial capacity, and navigating the federal grant application process.
The EPA's funding notice outlines four key priorities: acquisition of financing and funding, protection of water quality and compliance assistance, tribal wastewater systems, and decentralized wastewater systems. The tribal wastewater systems priority aims to provide comprehensive support for tribes to improve their wastewater infrastructure and address broader clean water challenges.
The program will also focus on decentralized wastewater systems, including septic systems, which serve over 20% of U.S. households and are common in rural areas. Technical assistance providers will help communities manage both centralized and decentralized systems to meet environmental and health standards.
Applications for the program are open until November 25, 2024. The initiative builds on the Rural, Small, and Tribal Clean Water Technical Assistance Grant Program, established under the America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, which has provided essential support to communities with limited access to technical expertise.
