Date: 09/30/2009
Final
Prep Water Eligibility Lists
WATER RESOURCES REVIEW COMMITTEE
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11:29 AM -- Preparation of Water Eligibility Loan Lists
Steve Gunderson, Director Water Quality Control Division, and Donna Davis, Operations Program Manager for the Water Quality Control Division, provided an overview of the prioritization of projects for the Water Pollution Control Project and Drinking Water Project loan eligibility lists. The projects provide low interest loans to governmental agencies for the construction of water projects. Mr. Gunderson explained that due to the funding received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Water Quality Control Division staff have been working long hours to process applications with federal deadlines. He explained that the Water Quality Control Division has held four public meetings to lay out their ranking criteria. Ms. Davis described the division's prioritization process (Attachment J). She explained that they received $62 million for infrastructure projects from ARRA. In the base loan program, the division has about $140 million available for loans in 2009. She explained that the eligibility lists documented a need for about $1.2 billion worth of drinking water projects and about $1.9 billion in waste water projects. She discussed how projects were selected and the requirements of ARRA funding. ARRA requires that 50 percent of the ARRA funding be given away in loan forgiveness or grants, that 20 percent of the funding go towards projects that use green infrastructure. The rest of the money can be used to fund projects at the state's discretion. ARRA also requires that the funding be expended by February 17, 2010. Ms. Davis reviewed the six funding categories which are used to prioritize projects. She further explained that only water pollution control projects in categories 1, 2, and 3 were funded and only drinking water projects in category 1 were funded.
