oEPA FACT SHEET Water Infrastructure and Capacity Assessment Tool (Water ICAT) Water ICAT is an interactive map that helps users identify drinking water and wastewater utilities that may benefit from water infrastructure technical assistance or capacity development assistance. Water ICAT combines water utility information with compliance, community, and water infrastructure funding data allowing users - such as technical assistance providers - to screen for utilities that may benefit from additional federal, state, or local support. User-friendly and Integrated Information Water ICAT incorporates data from a variety of sources into a single, user-friendly screening tool, grouping these data into four primary categories: 1. General Utility Characteristics: Includes baseline utility characteristics such as infrastructure type, utility location, ownership, and population served. Sources: EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database and the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS). 2. Community Characteristics: Includes environmental justice, disadvantaged community, and other socioeconomic/demographic characteristic data. Sources: EJScreen. CEJST1, and the IRA2. 3. Enforcement/Compliance Characteristics: Includes wastewater and drinking water enforcement and compliance data. Sources: ECHO, SDWIS. 4. Water Infrastructure Funding History: Includes Clean and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Data from the last 10-years. Source: Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund Portal. Water ICAT does not replace the source data tools, but instead integrates these data in a new way to better identify utilities that may benefit from technical assistance. Use Cases, Caveats, and Limitations The most common use for Water ICAT is to identify water utilities that may need technical assistance. Users make map filter selections to find utilities meeting their screening requirements. Based on the results, users can then "ground- truth" utility needs by consulting more local information at the state, community, or utility-level. After verifying need, the process of working with utilities to access beneficial resources, such as support through EPA's WaterTA program, can begin. Some caveats and limitations of Water ICAT include: 1. Water ICAT is just one of several resources that can be used to identify potential need and is intended to complement existing resources. Not all utilities identified using this screening tool may require assistance. 2. Water ICAT incorporates enforcement and compliance data, however, Water ICAT is not intended to be used as an enforcement targeting tool. 3. Not all utilities have adequate spatial or locational data to discern community characteristics. More information can be found within Water ICAT under Caveats and Limitations. Need more information? • Visit Water ICAT to begin exploring the data. • More information is available through Water ICAT's Frequently Asked Questions resource. • To learn more about EPA Technical Assistance, visit the WaterTA homepage. • For questions, contact: WaterTA@epa.gov 1 The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) is used to identify disadvantaged communities for federal investments. 2 The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) disadvantaged communities map is an EPA tool that can be used identify whether a community is disadvantaged for the purposes of implementing programs under the IRA. ------- |