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Home My WebLink About09-11-25 Correspondence - EPA - Water Division Program Updates - September 2025From:EPA Region 8To:Bozeman Public CommentSubject:[EXTERNAL]Water Division Program Updates - September 2025Date:Thursday, September 11, 2025 8:56:41 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. View as a webpage / Share Header WD In This Month's Newsletter Grant Opportunities Upcoming Webinars Drinking Water System Infrastructure Resilience Grant Wildfire, Drought, Flooding, Extreme weather events and Cybersecurity attacks pose significant challenges to drinking water systems within Region 8. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish the Midsize and Large Drinking Water System Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Program. This grant program assists medium and large size public water systems with protecting drinking water sources from natural hazards, extreme weather events, and cybersecurity threats. The FY 25 competition is now open. Approximately $9.5M in competitive funding is available under this opportunity for eligible applicants seeking funding for eligible project activities identified in the NOFO. The application period is open until October 6, 2025, and can be found on www.grants.gov under opportunity number EPA-OW-OGWDW-25-01, assistance listing number 66.488. Funding through this grant program must be used for the planning, design, construction, implementation, operation, or maintenance of a program or project that increases resilience of public water systems to natural hazards. Examples of projects include: Conservation of water or the enhancement of water use efficiency Modification or relocation of existing drinking water system infrastructure significantly impaired by natural hazards Design or construction of desalination facilities to serve existing communities Enhancement of water supply though watershed management and source water protection Enhancement of energy efficiency or the use and generation of renewable energy in the conveyance or treatment of drinking water Click here for more information Office Hours for Safe Drinking Water Act Section 1433 EPA's Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division (WICRD) will host Office Hours in September 2025 to assist community water systems (CWSs) with questions on completing or certifying Risk and Resilience Assessments (RRAs) and Emergency Response Plans (ERPs) under Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) section 1433 (also known as America’s Water Infrastructure Act section 2013). These one-on-one discussions with EPA to address specific CWS questions about RRAs and ERPs will remain private. While aimed at large CWSs serving over 100,000 people who must certify their ERP by September 30th, all CWSs are welcome to register if slots are available. For more information, visit EPA’s SDWA 1433 webpage or contact WICRDSupport@gdit.com. Upon booking, you will receive a confirmation and calendar invite with a Microsoft Teams link. Sign up for an appointment here Managing Your Roadway Stormwater Assets to Reduce Pollution, Achieve Water Quality Objectives, and Protect Communities from Flooding - Webinar Stormwater assets – the drainage systems and control measures installed to manage stormwater – are vulnerable to system failures that cause upsets, flooding, and system damage if they are not properly maintained and upgraded when necessary. Cities, counties, and states manage roadway stormwater assets to keep waterways clean and prevent localized flooding. Stormwater asset management planning is a proven approach that helps provide reliable levels of service to customers, helps plan system renewal and upgrades, and minimizes the total cost of owning and operating the assets. In this webinar, speakers from three state Departments of Transportation will showcase a variety of approaches to stormwater asset management in the roadway context. Click here to register - September 17th @ 12 pm MT Predicting Harmful Algal Blooms and Toxins in Lakes of the United States - Webinar In this presentation, we explore innovative approaches to predicting harmful algal blooms and their impacts on drinking water quality across lakes in the conterminous United States. We paired survey data with contextual nutrient, landscape, lake, and climate data to predict nutrient and chlorophyll-a concentrations in lakes. Combining lake predictions with drinking water system operation and violation data allowed us to explore the impacts of harmful algal blooms on drinking water and develop a simplified risk metric for determining where drinking water is most vulnerable to the effects of HABs. With increasing concerns about freshwater cyanobacteria blooms, there is a need to identify which waterbodies are at risk for developing blooms, especially those that produce cyanotoxins. We developed spatial statistical models based on national lake characteristics, nutrient input and other watershed data to determine which factors best explain the presence of harmful cyanobacterial blooms. These models can help identify which lakes are more vulnerable to blooms and in need of additional monitoring or communicating with communities near high-risk lakes. Click here to register - September 24th @ 12 pm MT Safe Drinking Water Act Section 1433 Best Practices - Webinar Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) section 1433, which was revised by America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) section 2013, requires community water systems (CWS) serving over 3,300 people to prepare (or revise) and certify risk and resilience assessments (RRAs) and emergency response plans (ERPs) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by specified deadlines every five years. Recertification deadlines are upon us, with deadlines occurring throughout 2025 and 2026. EPA is committed to protecting human health by ensuring the safety of drinking water, including conducting inspections to verify compliance with SDWA 1433 requirements. In this webinar, the EPA will outline what CWSs can expect during a SDWA 1433 inspection and share best practices for developing and maintaining compliant RRAs and ERPs, based on insights from EPA inspectors in the field. For more information, please contact EPA at dwresilience@epa.gov. EPA is applying for continuing education units (CEUs) for certified drinking water operators and will update the registration page to indicate which state primacy agencies will provide CEUs for attending this webinar. Click here to register - September 29th @ 12 pm MT Colorado Water and Emergency Services Sectors Technical Assistance Workshop Join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment for a free virtual workshop on Zoom to learn more about planning for, responding to, and recovering from wildfires. The partnership between the Water and Wastewater Systems and Emergency Services Sectors will be highlighted, and morning presentations will cover best practices and lessons learned from past wildfires in Colorado that have affected water and wastewater utilities. The afternoon will give all participants an opportunity to discuss their past wildfire response experiences (as applicable) and share how they are preparing for the wildfire threat. Click here for more information Green Infrastructure for Small Systems: Exploring Real World Examples A growing number of smaller, more rural communities are integrating green infrastructure as part of a project or as a strategy to manage stormwater. These communities are successfully integrating green infrastructure into their projects to improve quality, reduce localized flooding, and achieve ecological benefits. This webinar will showcase Lancaster, PA, Harrisburg, PA, and Caledon, ON as leading examples of smaller communities relying on green infrastructure to help meet their stormwater challenges. Representatives from these communities will explain how their green infrastructure programs work and share their successes and lessons learned. The program will also feature how other communities inspired by these examples can access technical assistance to prepare and apply for funding for green infrastructure projects. Click here to register - September 18th @ 11 AM MT Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pleased to announce publication of a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) grants for Tribes and Intertribal Consortia. This opportunity, authorized by the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, and funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, seeks to fund projects focused on improving solid waste management and recycling infrastructure. The grants for Tribes and intertribal consortia will provide approximately $20 million in awards ranging from $100,000 to $1.5 million per award. The deadline to apply is December 12, 2025 Click here for more information This email was sent to comments@bozeman.net using govDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: EPA -Region 8 · Denver Federal Center, Building 25 · Lakewood, CO 80225 Additional Resources For questions on Technical Assistance (TA) and funding opportunities for clean water and drinking water infrastructure, contact Tamara Barbakova at Barbakova.Tamara@epa.gov. EPA Region 8 Mountains and Plains Serving Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 28 Tribal Nations Website | Contact us Manage Subscriptions | Unsubscribe All | Help