HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-05-26 Correspondence - EPA - Water Division Program Updates February 2026From:EPA Region 8To:Bozeman Public CommentSubject:[EXTERNAL]Water Division Program Updates February 2026Date:Thursday, February 5, 2026 3:29:35 PM
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In This Month's Newsletter
Grant Opportunities
Free Technical Assistance
Upcoming Webinars
Drought
Environmental Education Grant
The Environmental Education grant competition is NOW OPEN through March 3, 2026!
Under the Environmental Education Grants Program, EPA seeks grant applications through
a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) from eligible applicants to support environmental
education projects that promote environmental awareness and stewardship and help
provide people with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment. This
grant program provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, and/or
disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques. Since 1992, EPA
has distributed between $2 and $3.5 million in grant funding per year, supporting more than
3,980 grants. Click below for more information on the open grant competition.
Click here for more information
Are You Prepared for Drought, Wildfires,
Flooding, and Extreme Weather?
As a drinking water, wastewater, or storm water (water sector) utility or stakeholder you
have the opportunity to receive free natural hazard risk assessment technical assistance
from EPA’s Strengthening Water Infrastructure for Tomorrow (SWIFT) Initiative. SWIFT
provides location-specific natural hazard data and practical risk assessment tools to identify
and evaluate resilient strategies. Technical assistance under SWIFT promotes a better
understanding of natural hazard threats and their impacts on vulnerable assets, providing
the guidance needed to make risk-informed infrastructure and investment decisions. SWIFT
also makes connections to infrastructure financing that help utilities fund the implementation
of their hazard resilience projects. Communities requesting this Free Technical Assistance
may have the opportunity to present their case study at upcoming workshops.
If you are interested in receiving SWIFT technical assistance, please contact Aliza
Furneaux (furneaux.aliza@epa.gov).
For more information on additional EPA Water Technical Assistance (WaterTA) providers,
please visit: https://www.epa.gov/water-infrastructure/forms/water-technical-assistance-
request-form. You may also request SWIFT technical assistance through the Water TA
portal by selecting the last option in item #14.
Click here for more information
Children and the Environment Webinar
This webinar will explain the foundations of different indicators to track threats to children’s
environmental health, utilization of new resources and tools to further EPA’s mission to
protect human health. America's Children and the Environment (ACE) tool will help:
Compile vetted data from a variety of high-quality, nationally representative sources
to present informative and reliable indicators on children’s environmental health in the
United States,
Inform and enhance discussions on key children’s environmental health issues, and
how EPA works to impact children’s environmental health, and
Track trends in children’s environmental health and help identify opportunities for
EPA to further our core mission to protect the nation’s children and families.
An informational webinar will be held February 18, 2026, at 1 pm Mountain Time.
Click here to Register
Water Sector Threat Briefing
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Water Emergency Response
and Cybersecurity (OWERC), in partnership with the Water Information Sharing and
Analysis Center (WaterISAC), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
(CISA) are offering a threat briefing that will be held virtually on February 26, 2026. The
briefing will be unclassified, meaning that no clearance is required. It will provide an
overview of information on the following topics related to drinking water and wastewater
security threats and preparedness:
Potential threats to critical infrastructure (cyber and physical)
What to do in the event of a cyber or physical intrusion
Water security and preparedness products and services
Click here to Register
Building Drought and Wildfire Resilience
for Water Sector Utilities Webinar
US EPA’s Strengthening Water Infrastructure for Tomorrow (SWIFT) initiative invites all
interested water utility managers and staff, technical assistance providers, state and local
government employees, and other water sector stakeholders to join a free webinar detailing
how SWIFT provides direct technical assistance to water sector utilities facing drought and
wildfire hazards. Learn about the SWIFT technical assistance process, explore online tools
for understanding and assessing system risk to these hazards, and review resources for
identifying resilient infrastructure projects. This webinar will be held on March 25, 2026, at
11 am Mountain Time.
Click here to Register
National Integrated Drought Information
System
Worried about drought? NIDIS is a multi-agency partnership that coordinates drought
monitoring, forecasting, planning, and information at national, state, and local levels across
the country. Drought.gov hosts information on current conditions, snow drought, impacts,
historical information and forecasts.
Wildfire season is going to suck
Click here for more information
Grants - Competition Process Webinar
EPA hosted a webinar on December 17th, 2025, that was intended to help grant applicants
learn how to find and successfully apply for competitive EPA grants. The EPA also provided
an overview of the competition process from application through evaluation and selection.
To view the presentation slides and the recording, click the link below.
Click here to view webinar materials
Stormwater Management Essentials for
Small Systems and Communities -
Webinar
The Environmental Finance Center Network will be hosting a webinar focusing on
stormwater management. Small wastewater systems with limited budgets and staff face
stormwater challenges such as flooding, pollution, and aging infrastructure. Small
communities face the same stormwater challenges as large cities, but with limited budgets
and staff. This 1-hour webinar provides a practical introduction to stormwater runoff and
hydrology, with a focus on how stormwater affects wastewater systems and local
watersheds. Participants will learn how nutrients and contaminants in runoff impact
receiving waters, and how green infrastructure can be used to manage stormwater. The
webinar on February 19, 2026, at 10 AM Mountain Time will end with a walkthrough of free
EPA tools that can be used to support planning, decision-making, and grant applications.
Learning Objectives:
Understand how stormwater runoff and hydrology affect flooding, water quality, and
wastewater system performance.
Identify common nutrients and contaminants in stormwater and understand their
impacts on wastewater systems.
Describe green infrastructure approaches.
Use free EPA stormwater and green infrastructure tools to support planning,
decision-making, and funding applications.
Click here to Register
Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage
Development (BUILD) - Grant Program
The Department of Transportation is currently accepting applications for its BUILD grant
program. The goal of the program is to fund projects that will have a significant local or
regional impact and improve transportation infrastructure. BUILD grants will be awarded on
a competitive basis, per statute, for planning or constructing surface transportation
infrastructure projects that will improve safety; environmental sustainability; quality of life;
mobility and community connectivity; economic competitiveness and opportunity including
tourism; state of good repair; partnership and collaboration; and innovation. Apply by
February 24, 2026.
Click here to view the Grant Opportunity
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
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