&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
(4204)
Washington, DC 20460
EPA 832-F-00-002
April 2000
Funding Shellfish Restoration and Remediation Projects with the
Clean Water State Revolving Fund
The Problem
Shellfish filter the water to feed and can extract and
concentrate microorganisms many fold over the
concentrations in the water. Since shellfish are often
eaten raw, the quality of the water they are harvested
from must be of pristine quality. The principal point
source factors responsible for harvest limitations for
shellfish growing areas are wastewater treatment
plants and combined sewer overflows, boating
activities and marinas, industrial facilities, and the
direct discharge of untreated sewage. Nonpoint
source factors are urban runoff, malfunctioning on-
site septic systems, agricultural and feedlot runoff,
and wildlife. These sources are generally consistent
with the information reported to the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration in the 1995
National Shellfish Register and in the Environmental
Protection Agency's 1998 National Water Quality
Inventory Report to Congress. According to the EPA
Report, these sources have resulted in shellfish
harvesting criteria not being met in 27% of surveyed
state waters.
Shellfish Projects and the Clean Water State
Revolving Fund
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF)
programs in every state and Puerto Rico work like
banks. Federal and state contributions are used to
capitalize or set up the programs. These assets, in
turn, are used to make low or no-interest loans for
important water quality proj ects. Funds are repaid to
the CWSRF's over terms as long as twenty years.
Repaid funds are then recycled to fund other quality
projects. These CWSRF resources can help augment
the financial resources currently available to fund the
following types of shellfish restoration and
remediation projects:
/ Urban runoff
/ Wastewater treatment plants and
combined sewer overflows
/ Nonpoint agricultural runoff
/ Malfunctioning septic systems
/ Pumpout stations for marinas and boating
facilities
/ Restoration of shellfish habitat including
reef structure
Capacity of the CWSRF
JN ationally, the CWSRF has in excess of $30 billion in
assets (includes loans already made and current funds
available to make loans). Currently, the CWSRF is
funding approximately $3 billion in water quality
projects each year.
Since 1989, the CWSF program has funded over
1200 nonpoint source projects, investing more
than $840 million to clean up polluted runoff.
Getting a Project Funded
The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1987 authorized the
CWSRF to fund publicly owned treatment works
(§212), nonpoint source (§319), and estuary (§320)
projects. As stipulated in §603(c) of the CWA, §212
projects must be publicly owned to receive CWSRF
funds. Nonpoint and estuary projects, however, do not
have this restriction. Included in a long list of eligible
CWSRF loan recipients for NPS and estuary projects
are community groups, individuals, agricultural
associations and nonprofit organizations. Since the
program is managed by the states, project funding
varies according to the priorities, policies, and laws
within each state. Eligible applicants also vary by state.
Contact your state's CWSRF, NPS, or Estuary
program for details (see end of next page).
Sources of Loan Repayment
liacli state must approve a source of loan repayment as
part of the application process. Though finding a
source of repayment may prove challenging, it does not
have to be unnecessarily so. Many users of the
CWSRF have demonstrated a high degree of creativity
in identifying sources of loan repayment. The sources
of repayment need not come from the project itself.
Some possibilities include:
• Fees paid by developers on other lands
• Recreational fees (fishing licenses, park
entrance fees)
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Stormwater management fees
Wastewater user charges
Donations or dues made to nonprofit
groups and associations
Learning by Example
1 he City of Port Townsend, Washington used a
$500,000 loan from the CWSRF to purchase the
Winona Wetland and safeguard valuable shellfish
beds. The CWSRF funds will be used for land
acquisition and related activities to preserve the
Winona Wetland, its buffers, and the critical drainage
corridor between Winona Wetland and the Chinese
Gardens Lagoon. This wetland is part of a larger
system of wetlands discharging into Puget Sound.
Des Moines, Washington used a $223,000 loan
from the CWSRF to purchase a badly degraded
wetland area and to prepare a design of a sediment
trap/pond facility. The project will serve a dual
purpose of providing flood protection by containing
Stormwater runoff, and acting as a preliminary filter
by removing suspended solids. The removal of
sediment and heavy metals will be protective of
shellfish in Puget Sound.
1 he following are examples of shellfish projects,
that while funded as grants under Section 319, would
be potentially eligible for loans from the CWSRF.
1 he town of Harwich, Massachusetts is using a
Section 319 CWA grant for remediation of a storm
drain at the town wharf. The project will
demonstrate the use of the "Storm Treat Systems"
(mention of this technology does not imply
endorsement by EPA) remediation technology to
restore shellfish beds in a coastal environment.
In Port Fourchon, Louisiana, Louisiana State
University utilized an innovative natural sand/soil
bed in an upwelling injection field to remove fecal
coliforms and reduce the environmental impact of
wastewater. The effluent had been threatening local
oyster beds.
1 he Three Rivers RC & D Council, Inc. has
installed constructed wetlands as an alternative to the
conventional septic tank system to address the
pollution of nearby shellfish beds in Escambia Bay,
Florida. The wetlands replace improperly
functioning septic systems and provide an alternative
where soil conditions cannot support septic systems.
A rock and reed filter beds system with chlorination
was utilized by the Jackson County Board of
Supervisors in the Bangs Lake region of Mississippi to
retrofit conventional on-site septic tanks. The
malfunctioning sewage system had been contributing to
the fecal coliform levels responsible for the closure of
local shellfish growing waters.
Challenges Ahead
JiPA has been encouraging the states to open their
CWSRF's to the widest variety of water quality
projects, while addressing high priority projects in
targeted watersheds. Improvements in water quality,
based on the filtering capacity of shellfish, may justify
the use of funding shellfish restoration projects under
Section 319. Use of CWSRF funds to move the outfall
of treatment plants from shellfish growing areas to less
threatening sites also has potential. Those interested in
cleaning up polluted runoff should seek out their
CWSRF programs, gain an understanding of how their
state program works, and participate in the annual
process that determines which projects are funded.
For more information on the CWSRF, or for a
program representative in your state, please
contact:
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund Branch
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (Mail Code 4204)
Washington D.C. 20460
Phone: (202) 260-7359 Fax: (202) 260-1827
Internet: http://www.epa.gov/OWM
Clean Water
State Revolving Fund
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