On March 11th, 2021, President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion relief bill commonly referred to as The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Overall, the bill provides relief in many forms, including the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) Program that provides a substantial infusion of resources to communities working to turn the tide on the pandemic, address economic fallout, and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable recovery.
After seeing how important the water & sewer industry is during a pandemic, legislators decided to include "Necessary investments in water, sewer, infrastructure" as eligible uses of these funds. Although it's up to each municipality to determine how they want to invest ARPA funds, we believe Ohio's rural water & wastewater systems would have a much greater likelihood of receiving funding if they know what the eligible uses are, what the reporting requirements will be, and how much funding is available to their municipality.
Unfortunately it's still unclean if or who regional systems would direct their funding requests to; but here is some information that we've gathered to help assist each of you in this process
After seeing how important the water & sewer industry is during a pandemic, legislators decided to include "Necessary investments in water, sewer, infrastructure" as eligible uses of these funds. Although it's up to each municipality to determine how they want to invest ARPA funds, we believe Ohio's rural water & wastewater systems would have a much greater likelihood of receiving funding if they know what the eligible uses are, what the reporting requirements will be, and how much funding is available to their municipality.
Unfortunately it's still unclean if or who regional systems would direct their funding requests to; but here is some information that we've gathered to help assist each of you in this process
"Necessary investments in water, sewer, infrastructure"
"The ARPA provides funds to State, local, and Tribal governments to make necessary investments in water and sewer infrastructure.125 By permitting funds to be used for water and sewer infrastructure needs, Congress recognized the critical role that clean drinking water and services for the collection and treatment of wastewater and stormwater play in protecting public health. Understanding that State, local, and Tribal governments have a broad range of water and sewer infrastructure needs, the Interim Final Rule provides these governments with wide latitude to identify investments in water and sewer infrastructure that are of the highest priority for their own communities, which may include projects on privately-owned infrastructure. The Interim Final Rule does this by aligning eligible uses of the Fiscal Recovery Funds with the wide range of types or categories of projects that would be eligible to receive financial assistance through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) or Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF)."
Helpful Resources:
US Department of the Treasury's: Interim Final Rule
*Information regarding the eligible uses of funds (pg. 62-69 pertain to water & sewer infrastructure)
US Department of the Treasury's: Compliance & Reporting Guidance
*Information about the reporting requirements
Ohio SLFRF Allocations
*Information about the distribution of funds to Ohio's municipalities
*Information regarding the eligible uses of funds (pg. 62-69 pertain to water & sewer infrastructure)
US Department of the Treasury's: Compliance & Reporting Guidance
*Information about the reporting requirements
Ohio SLFRF Allocations
*Information about the distribution of funds to Ohio's municipalities
Questions & Answers:
This page by the National League of Cities provides a great List of Questions & Answers regarding Water & Sewer Infrastructure.
ORWA Assistance:
If you need additional assistance or have questions, you can contact us at orwa@ohioruralwater.org and we will do our best to help!
