HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-06-24 Correspondence - Environmental Protection Agency - EPA Region 8 Water Division_ Program UpdatesFrom:Mullins, Matthew (he/him/his)To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]EPA Region 8 Water Division: Program Updates
Date:Monday, February 5, 2024 5:15:46 PM
Attachments:Program updates Feb 2024.pdf
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Feb 5, 2024Program Updates
Upcoming Opportunities
New Grant opportunity: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency isannouncing the availability of $3 million in grant funding through the newCenters of Excellence for Stormwater Control Infrastructure TechnologiesGrant Program. The Centers of Excellence will play an important role inconducting research and providing technical assistance to state, Tribal, andlocal governments to support stormwater infrastructure improvements thatprotect public health, safeguard the environment, and increase climateresilience. Approximately $3 million in grant funding will support three to five
awards to establish and maintain regional Centers of Excellence for
Stormwater Infrastructure Technologies. Funding will also support one awardto create and maintain a national electronic clearinghouse that containsinformation relating to new and emerging stormwater control infrastructuretechnologies. Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education,research institutions, and nonprofit organizations.
Click here for more information
Deadline to Apply is March 18, 2024
Funding Sources for Developing Lead Service Line Inventories: EPA’sLead Service Line Replacement Accelerators Pilot Program has just published
a list of funding sources for developing service line inventories for publicwater systems. This is the first of many products EPA intends to publish tohelp Public Water Systems reach the service line inventory requirement byOctober 2024.
Click here to view list of funding sources and more information
Water Infrastructure Funding Tools and Resources Webinars: This two
part webinar will provide a deep dive into Water Financing. The first webinarwill be a general training of the Water Finance Clearinghouse. Attendees willlearn how the Water Finance Clearinghouse works, watch a live demo of theClearinghouse, and discover tips and best practices for using theClearinghouse. The second webinar will cover Augmented Alternative Analysis(AAA) and a high-level overview of four new learning modules posted to theWater Finance Clearinghouse. The purpose of these learning modules is toprovide an interactive learning experience for users who are interested inexploring specific water finance topics.
Register here for the General User Training Webinar
Wednesday, February 7, 2024: 9:00 AM MT
Register here for the Funding Decision Making Tools Webinar
Wednesday, February 7, 2024: 10:30 AM MT
Addressing Emerging Contaminants in Source Water: The nationalSource Water Collaborative (SWC) is hosting this webinar to showcase theways in which Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding can support sourcewater protection by addressing emerging contaminants in drinking watersources. The webinar is open to the public and designed for states, waterutilities, source water protection staff, state BIL funding program staff, localSWCs, federal agencies, and other water stakeholders.
Register here for the Webinar
Thursday, February 8, 2024: 1:00 PM MT
Effectiveness of Nutrient Management on Reducing Nutrient Lossesfrom Agricultural Fields: Nutrients in agricultural areas are managed basedon the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship: apply the right nutrient source, with the
right rate, at the right time, in the right place. However, nutrient discharge is
an ongoing environmental concern, and management practices for waterquality improvements present many challenges due to complex processesand mechanisms in nutrient cycling and other factors associated withagricultural conservation practices such as residue and tillage management.This presentation will discuss two investigations focused on nitrogen (N) andphosphorus (P) and emphasizes the need for government agencies to worktogether to address potential economic losses due to implementation of lowerfertilizer rates for water quality improvement.
Register here for the Webinar
Wednesday, February 28, 2024: 12:00 PM MT
Community Change Grants: A $10—$20 million dollar grant opportunity!
The Community Change Technical Assistance Program (CCTA) is holding aseries of informational webinars on the Community Change Grants Notice ofFunding Opportunity (NOFO) that will take place every Tuesday afternoonfrom 1:00 to 2:00 Mountain Time through at least March 2024. The webinarwill review NOFO content and requirements, explaining available technicalassistance, and answering questions about the grant application process. Toview the recording of the December informational webinar, click here.
The EPA’s Environmental Justice Community Change Grants Notice of
Funding Opportunity (NOFO , Link to Application on grants.gov) and requests
for Technical Assistance (TA) are open. Approximately $2 billion in funding is
available to support community-driven projects that deploy clean energy,
strengthen climate resilience, and build capacity for communities to tackle
environmental and climate justice challenges. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Community Change Grants are the single largest
investment in environmental justice going directly to communities in history.
Applications can be submitted under two separate tracks depending on the
project scope and funding requested.
· Track I, Community-Driven Investments for Change, is expected to award
approximately $1.96 billion for 150 projects for $10-20 million each.
· Track II, Meaningful Engagement for Equitable Governance, is expected to
award approximately $40 million for 20 projects for $1-3 million each.
Technical Assistance (TA) for preparing grant applications is available in
response to communities and environmental justice leaders, who have long
called for capacity building support for communities to access critical federal
resources. Applicants can learn more about, and express interest in, the
technical assistance on EPA’s Community Change Grants Technical Assistance
webpage. Please consider taking advantage of the TA available as
soon as possible.
· The activities to be performed under the grants are expected to fall under
the following categories:
· Climate resiliency and adaptation.
· Mitigating climate and health risks from urban heat islands, extreme heat,
wood heater emissions, and wildfire events.
· Community-led air, water, waste and other pollution monitoring, prevention,
and remediation.
· Investments in low- and zero-emission and resilient technologies and
related infrastructure.
· Workforce development that supports the reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions and other air pollutants.
· Reducing indoor toxics and indoor air pollution.
· Facilitating the engagement of disadvantaged communities in state and
federal advisory groups, workshops, rulemakings, and other publicprocesses
Equitable Resilience Technical Assistance for Disaster Prone Areas
EPA has launched a separate technical assistance program specifically to
help disaster prone and disadvantaged communities prepare and
apply for Community Change Grants (see above). The EPA Community
Change Equitable Resilience program provides free design and project
development assistance, community engagement, and partnership
development workshops. Requests for technical assistance are now being
accepted on a rolling basis until 50 recipients have been identified.
Region 8 EJ partners, please do not delay your technical
assistance application!
Apply for the free equitable resilience Technical Assistance by filling outthis simple intake form.
Climate resilience projects that qualify for technical assistance include afocus on new or expanded green infrastructure, open spaces, and/orretrofits of existing community buildings or streets to address climate
change impacts (such as extreme heat and more intense heat islands,wildfire and smoke, floods, storms, or other climate impacts that pose agreater risk to disadvantaged communities).
Once notified and engaged, TA recipients will participate in the following
steps over the course of approximately 4 months:
1. An initial call to identify community assets, challenges, interests, and
stakeholder engagement strategies that will support the on-site portions of
this TA.
2. A 1-day site visit to conduct a site assessment and confirm 1-3 sites for
design work.
3. 6 weeks of design and community engagement work to develop initial
design concepts and supportive partnerships for the design workshop.
4. A 1-day on-site design workshop to confirm and select final designs for
1-3 sites.
5. A final set of design options, preliminary budget, and project
summary that the applicant can use in developing and writing their own
grant proposal for a Community Change Grant.
6. Additional support as needed to troubleshoot grant submission.
Click here for more information
Water Technical Assistance: Communities can request no-cost directWaterTA to evaluate their drinking water, wastewater, stormwaterinfrastructure, and water quality improvement needs. EPA's WaterTAprograms offer a wide range of services, including:
· Identifying water infrastructure or water quality improvement needs
· Planning for capital improvements
· Building technical, managerial, and financial capacity
· Preparing for and developing application materials for financing a project
through the SRFs or other EPA-supported funding opportunities
Click here for more information
WaterTA Request form to request Technical Assistance
Increase your Cyber Resilience: Cyber incidents are increasing at waterand wastewater systems. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure SecurityAgency (CISA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointlyreleased a Water Sector Cybersecurity Toolkit to aid Water and WastewaterSector (Water Sector) stakeholders in bolstering their cybersecurity
preparedness across the nation. To build security and resilience within the
Water Sector, CISA works closely with EPA to deliver tools, resources,training and information that can help organizations within this Sector.Together, CISA brings technical expertise as the nation’s cyber defense andinfrastructure security agency, and EPA offers extensive expertise as theWater and Wastewater Sector Risk Management Agency. The toolkit includesuseful resources, including a newly published Cybersecurity IncidentResponse Guide, vital CISA and EPA services including free vulnerabilityscanning assessments, cybersecurity performance goals alignment, cyberhygiene tools and much more.
We look forward to continuing to serve you by providing information onGrant Opportunities, Webinars, Trainings, and other exciting information.
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For questions on webinars and workshops, contact EPA via the email addresslisted on the registration page.
For questions on Technical Assistance (TA) and funding opportunities forclean water and drinking water infrastructure, contact Tamara Barbakova atBarbakova.Tamara@epa.gov.
https://www.epa.gov/environmental-topics/water-topicsAdditional Information: