vvEPA

FACT SHEET

Water Technical Assistance: Ensuring Equitable Access to Water

Infrastructure Funding

All communities deserve access to clean, safe, and reliable water. Yet too many communities across America-
rural, urban, and suburban, small, and large—face challenges in providing safe drinking water, wastewater, and
stormwater services to their residents. EPA's free water technical assistance (WaterTA) supports communities
to identify water challenges, develop plans, build technical, financial, and managerial capacity, and develop
application materials to access water infrastructure funding. EPA collaborates with states, tribes, territories,
community partners, and other key stakeholders to implement WaterTA efforts. The end result: more
communities with applications for federal funding, quality water infrastructure, and reliable water services.

EPA has a history of providing WaterTA to support communities to build their capacity and address compliance
challenges—and is now expanding its TA efforts to help more communities. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
(BIL) presents an unprecedented opportunity to address water infrastructure needs by providing $50 billion in
new funding, the largest federal investment in water in the history of our nation. New and existing EPA
WaterTA programs will be utilized to support effective implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

This fact sheet summarizes several EPA WaterTA programs and resources available to local municipalities,
tribes, communities, and entities eligible for EPA water infrastructure funding programs. To learn more about
EPA WaterTA, including how to access assistance or sign up for ongoing updates, visit www.epa.gov/water-
infrastructure/water-technical-assistance.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law WaterTA Initiatives

EPA is piloting three targeted Bipartisan Infrastructure Law WaterTA initiatives - in collaboration with states,
territories, tribes, and community partners.

BILTA Initiatives

Focus

H20 Community Solutions Teams

Support communities to assess water infrastructure needs and make
progress in accessing federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding.

Closing America's Wastewater
Access Gao

In partnership with USDA Rural Development, assists 11 underserved
areas with significant decentralized wastewater needs (or no
wastewater infrastructure at all) to make progress in accessing
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding.

Lead Service Line Replacement
Accelerators

Partner with Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to
accelerate lead service line replacement and support access to
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding across approximately 40
communities in 2023.

Ongoing WaterTA Programs

Existing EPA WaterTA programs are available for utilities, municipalities, and tribes to receive direct
WaterTAto maintain regulatory compliance, improve resiliency, and build utility technical, managerial,
and financial capacity (TMF). The following table provides various EPA WaterTA programs and
resources for utilities and tribes. For more details on programs and resources and to request

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assistance, go to: www.epa.gov/water-infrastructure/water-technical-assistance.

WaterTA Program

Focus

Environmental Finance Centers
(EFCs)

EFCs provide TA services to support communities to develop water
infrastructure needs, develop funding applications, and address other
capacity needs. 16 new regional BIL EFCs and 4 new national BIL EFCs
will support access to Bipartisan Infrastructure Law resources and
facilitate effective national implementation.

Training and Technical Assistance
for Small Svstems

Assist small drinking water utilities with Safe Drinking Water Act
compliance, support improved water quality efforts for small and
decentralized wastewater systems, and support private drinking water
well owners to improve water quality.

Rural. Small, and Tribal (RST) TA for
Wastewater Svstems

Support rural, small municipalities, and tribal governments to access
finance/funding and support rural, small, and tribal centralized and
decentralized wastewater systems to build capacity to protect water
quality and comply with the Clean Water Act.

Creating Resilient Water Utilities
(CRWU)

Provide training and resources to support water utilities as they pursue
climate adaptation and resiliency strategies.

Area-Wide Optimization Program
(AWOP)

Provides tools and approaches for drinking water systems to meet
water quality optimization goals and provide an increased - and
sustainable - level of public health protection to their consumers.

Water Infrastructure and Resiliencv
Finance Center

Provides financing information (e.g., a Clearinghouse of funding
opportunities, SRF 101 and other learning modules, and webinars) to
help utilities make decisions for drinking water, wastewater, and
stormwater infrastructure.

Cvbersecuritv

Offers online and in-person courses on water sector cybersecurity
threats, vulnerabilities, consequences, best practices, resources, and
program development. Additionally, EPA offers free, confidential
assessments and cybersecurity TA to interested drinking water and
wastewater utilities.

Drinking Water Rule
Implementation and Compliance
Assistance

Provides on-site and webinar-based training that includes rule
overviews and/or specific technical requirements to states and water
system operators. EPA also conducts virtual sanitary survey training for
states.

Water Resilience

Conducts training and exercises (both direct and classroom/ webinar
based) related to the disaster resilience of water and wastewater
utilities against natural disasters.

Drinking Water Capacity
Development

Provides tools and resources to help water systems build their TMF
capacity, maintain certified operators, and establish partnerships.

Utilitv Workforce Development

Webinars, case studies, and grant program to support innovative
workforce development practices at water and wastewater utilities.

Additional TA Programs

In addition to EPA Office of Water WaterTA, multiple TA programs are available from other EPA offices
and federal agencies. These include programs from EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and External

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Civil Rights (OEJECR), Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), Office of Congressional and
Intergovernmental Relations (OCIR), and Office of Research and Development (ORD). For example,

EPA's Thriving Communities Program under OEJECR helps nonprofits and other organizations in
underserved communities build community capacity to access federal resources for water
infrastructure and other needs. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Indian Health Service
(IHS) also offer robust TA programs. Many states provide TA programs for water utilities through SRF
set-aside funding.

For more information on these and other TA programs and resources, visit
www.epa.gov/water-infrastructure/water-technical-assistance or contact WaterTA@epa.gov

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