(a) Eligible projects. Projects that address or prevent
violations of health-based drinking water standards. These include
projects needed to maintain compliance with existing national primary
drinking water regulations for contaminants with acute and chronic
health effects. Projects to replace aging infrastructure are eligible
for assistance if they are needed to maintain compliance or further
the public health protection objectives of the Act. The specific projects
and activities eligible for assistance for a particular funding year
will be established annually in the IUP based on the eligible project
categories and eligible project-related costs in (b) and (c) of this
section, as authorized by the Act.
(b) Eligible Project Categories.
(1) Treatment. Examples of projects include, but are
not limited to, installation or upgrade of facilities to improve the
quality of drinking water to comply with primary or secondary standards
and point of entry or central treatment under 42 U.S.C. §300f(4)(B)(i)(III).
(2) Transmission and distribution. Examples of projects
include, but are not limited to, installation or replacement of transmission
and distribution pipes to improve water pressure to safe levels or
to prevent contamination caused by leaks or breaks in the pipes.
(3) Source. Examples of projects include, but are not
limited to, rehabilitation of wells or development of eligible sources
to replace contaminated sources.
(4) Storage. Examples of projects include, but are
not limited to, installation or upgrade of eligible storage facilities,
including finished water reservoirs, to prevent microbiological contaminants
from entering a public water system.
(5) Consolidation. Eligible projects are those needed
to consolidate water supplies where, for example, a supply has become
contaminated or a system is unable to maintain compliance for technical,
financial, or managerial reasons.
(6) Creation of new systems. Eligible projects are
those that, upon completion, will create a community water system
to address existing public health problems with serious risks caused
by unsafe drinking water provided by individual wells or surface water
sources. Eligible projects are also those that create a new regional
community water system by consolidating existing systems that have
technical, financial, or managerial difficulties. Projects to address
existing public health problems associated with individual wells or
surface water sources must be limited in scope to the specific geographic
area affected by contamination. Projects that create new regional
community water systems by consolidating existing systems must be
limited in scope to the service area of the systems being consolidated.
A project must be a cost-effective solution to addressing the problem.
The applicant must have given sufficient public notice to potentially
affected parties and must have considered alternative solutions to
addressing the problem. Capacity to serve future population growth
cannot be a substantial portion of a project.
(7) Green Projects. Projects that qualify as green
projects, in accordance with EPA definitions, based upon information
provided within the submitted project information form, the application,
and if necessary, the business case.
(c) Eligible project-related costs. In addition to
costs needed for the project itself, the following project-related
costs are eligible for assistance:
(1) Pre-project costs for planning and design.
(2) Costs for the acquisition of land only if needed
for the purposes of locating eligible project components. The land
must be acquired from a willing seller.
(3) Costs for restructuring systems that are in significant
noncompliance with any national primary drinking water regulation
or variance or that lack the technical, financial, and managerial
capability to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Act,
unless the systems are ineligible under paragraph (d)(2) or (d)(3)
of this section.
(d) Ineligible applicants. Assistance from the Fund
may not be provided to:
(1) Federally-owned public water systems or for-profit
noncommunity water systems.
(2) Systems that lack the technical, financial, and
managerial capability to ensure compliance with the requirements of
the Act, unless the assistance will ensure compliance and the owners
or operators of the systems agree to undertake feasible and appropriate
changes in operations to ensure compliance over the long term.
(3) Systems that are in significant noncompliance with
any national primary drinking water regulation or variance, unless:
(A) The purpose of the assistance is to address the
cause of the significant noncompliance and will ensure that the systems
return to compliance; or
(B) The purpose of the assistance is unrelated to the
cause of the significant noncompliance and the systems are on enforcement
schedules (for maximum contaminant level and treatment technique violations)
or have compliance plans (for monitoring and reporting violations)
to return to compliance.
(e) Ineligible projects. The following projects are
ineligible for assistance:
(1) Dams or rehabilitation of dams.
(2) Water rights, except if the water rights are owned
by a system that is being purchased through consolidation as part
of a capacity development strategy.
(3) Reservoirs or rehabilitation of reservoirs, except
for finished water reservoirs and those reservoirs that are part of
the treatment process and are on the property where the treatment
facility is located.
(4) Projects needed primarily for fire protection.
(5) Projects needed primarily to serve future population
growth. Projects must be sized only to accommodate a reasonable amount
of population growth expected to occur over the useful life of the
facility.
(6) Projects that have received assistance from the
national set-aside for Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages under
42 U.S.C. §300j-12(i).
(f) Ineligible project-related costs. The following
project-related costs are ineligible for assistance from the Fund:
(1) Laboratory fees for routine compliance monitoring.
(2) Operation and maintenance expenses.
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Source Note: The provisions of this §371.2 adopted to be effective August 4, 2010, 35 TexReg 6680; amended to be effective July 4, 2016, 41 TexReg 4844; amended to be effective March 18, 2019, 44 TexReg 1443 |