66.432: State Public Water System Supervision

66.432

Active

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Sept. 2, 2022

Sept. 2, 2022

The objective of these grants is to provide financial assistance to eligible States and Tribes, those that have Primary Enforcement Responsibility for the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) Program, for implementation and enforcement of the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act that apply to public water systems. In cases where a State or a Tribe does not have a Primary Enforcement Responsibility program, EPA is authorized to use funds that would have otherwise been made available to the State or the Tribe to assist it in direct implementation of the PWSS program. The fundamental goal of the PWSS Program, and the grants, is to ensure that public water systems comply with the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations listed in 40 CFR 141. State drinking water agencies, which have Primary Enforcement Responsibility for the PWSS Program, and Indian Tribes that receive PWSS grants are to use them to ensure that public drinking water systems, of all types, and of all sizes: (1) are currently in compliance with the drinking water regulations and remain in compliance, (2) are working towards and in the process of achieving compliance when these systems are noncompliant, and (3) are preparing for future compliance with any new drinking water regulations that will be taking effect in the current or following year. Furthermore, State drinking water agencies, which have Primary Enforcement Responsibility for the PWSS Program, and Indian Tribes that receive PWSS grants are required to use the funds to update and maintain its PWSS program to comply with the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations Implementation requirements listed in 40 CFR 142 to ensure that the State or Tribal PWSS program is capable of conducting oversight of all public water systems as new drinking water rules, new public water systems, and/or drinking water program requirements become effective. Funding Priority - Fiscal Year 2021: The priority for the PWSS grants is to ensure that the population served by community water systems will receive drinking water that meets all applicable health-based drinking water standards. This includes ensuring public water systems implement and comply with the all drinking water rules, including carefully considering any simultaneous compliance issues. Furthermore, EPA's priority is for States and Tribal PWSS Programs to meet the primary enforcement responsibilities. The primary components of a State or Tribal PWSS program are: (1) the adoption and implementation of State and Indian Tribe drinking water regulations at least as stringent as the Federal regulations; (2) the development and maintenance of database(s) of an inventory of public water systems and housing of public water system compliance information; (3) the conduct of sanitary surveys, which identifies sanitary deficiencies and requires that these deficiencies to be addressed, at public water systems; (4) the establishment and maintenance of a laboratory certification program for approval of laboratories to perform analyses of drinking water contaminants/analytes, including the assurance of adequate laboratory capacity to perform drinking water analyses; (5) the review of public water system plans and specifications; (6) the establishment of legal enforcement and authority to assess penalties to compel public water systems' compliance with the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; (7) the adoption of regulations consistent with 40 CFR part 3 which deals with electronic documents; and (8) the adoption and implementation of an adequate plan for providing safe drinking water during emergency circumstances. In Fiscal Year 2021, of the funds provided, $10,000,000 is to further support States, Territories, and Tribes in addressing PFAS and other contaminants of emerging concern as they carry out their Public Water System Supervision programs.

A - Formula Grants

Eligibility is limited to the governments of the fifty States; the District of Columbia; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; the Northern Mariana Islands; the Virgin Islands; Guam; American Samoa; and federally recognized Tribes, that have either assumed primary enforcement responsibility for the PWSS Program or that want to develop a program that will allow them to seek delegation for a PWSS Program. EPA may also use funds allotted for a State or Tribal program, if the State or Tribe does not have, or is not developing, primary enforcement responsibility, or EPA may use all or part of the funds to support the PWSS Program in absence of an acceptable State program. Eligibility is also limited to a single agency within each State, Territory, or Tribe - an agency that has been designated by the jurisdiction's Governor or Chief Executive Officer. Primary Enforcement Responsibility for the Public Water System Supervision Program is provided for in 40 CFR 142 (https://ecfr.federalregister.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-142?toc=1).

The beneficiaries are the agencies within the fifty States; the District of Columbia; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; the Northern Mariana Islands; the Virgin Islands; Guam; American Samoa; and federally recognized Tribes, that have been designated by the jurisdiction's Governor or Chief Executive Officer as being responsible for the supervision of water supplies within the State, Territory, or Tribe.

66.433 - State Underground Water Source Protection

https://sam.gov/fal/f5e37cdc5aad452181303d884544ddb4/view