EPA-OW-OGWDW-24-04.pdf

Federal Agency Name: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of

Water, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water

Funding Opportunity Title: Training and Technical Assistance to Improve Water

Quality and Enable Small Public Water Systems to Provide

Safe Drinking Water

Announcement Type: Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-OW-OGWDW-24-04

Assistance Listing: 66.436 and 66.424

Dates: The closing date and time for receipt of application submissions is November 25, 2024 by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, in order to be considered for funding. Application packages must be submitted electronically to the EPA through Grants.gov no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, November 25, 2024, in order to be considered for funding. Questions about this NOFO must be submitted in writing via e-mail and must be received by the Agency contact identified in Section VII by 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, November 11, 2024. Written responses will be posted on the EPA’s website at the Training and Technical Assistance for Small Systems Funding site. Please note that answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) are also available. The EPA strongly recommends interested applicants refer to the FAQs webpage prior to submitting a question.

Note to Applicants: Following the EPA’s evaluation of applications, all applicants will be notified regarding their status. If you name subawardees/subgrantees and/or contractor(s) including individual consultants in your application as partners to assist you with the proposed project, pay careful attention to the information in the CONTRACTS AND SUBAWARDS provision found at EPA Solicitation Clauses

CONTENTS BY SECTION

I. Funding Opportunity Description

II. Award Information

III. Eligibility Information

IV. Application and Submission Information

V. Application Review Information

VI. Award Administration Information

VII. Agency Contact

VIII. Other Information https://www.grants.gov/ https://www.epa.gov/dwcapacity/training-and-technical-assistance-small-systems-funding https://www.epa.gov/dwcapacity/training-and-technical-assistance-improve-water-quality-and-enable-small-public-water-0 https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses

Overview

The nation has made significant progress in addressing environmental and public health needs over the past fifty years. At the same time, the cost of facilities, programs, services, and activities needed to meet environmental challenges continues to grow. Many communities with significant drinking water system technical, managerial, and financial capacity needs have not been able to access federal funding and financing programs to address these concerns. The EPA recognizes that existing environmental gains cannot be preserved, nor further progress achieved, unless Tribes, state and local governments, utilities, and non-governmental organizations have the resources to develop and sustain water infrastructure and to pay for the growing costs of protecting the environment and public health.

As the EPA looks to support continued environmental progress, we are mindful that many communities have never been able to access safe and reliable infrastructure, and many communities are dealing with the impacts of climate change. Climate change acts as a threat multiplier, exacerbating existing stressors that impact public health, degrade the quality of our waterways, and destabilize critical water infrastructure. Disadvantaged communities are particularly vulnerable to these impacts.

The EPA provides technical assistance (TA) to help communities identify water infrastructure needs, plan for capital improvements, maintain regulatory compliance, improve resiliency, build capacity, and apply for the range of eligible projects under various grant programs. TA is provided through direct interactions with water utilities and communities. Through this grant program, the EPA seeks to provide funding to TA providers to support communities at the drinking water system level, including operational, environmental, and financial resource challenges they face. The funds included in this opportunity will ensure that vital technical assistance services are provided and reach the drinking water systems in communities that need them most. Funding will be awarded to eligible applicants that provide direct technical assistance and training to assist small drinking water systems, small publicly-owned wastewater systems, and onsite/decentralized wastewater systems and private well owners.1

Accordingly, with this announcement the EPA is seeking applications from organizations with a demonstrable history of providing effective, results-oriented technical assistance to public water systems. The agency’s priorities include maximizing funds to provide significant benefit to drinking water systems in communities of need; tackling the climate crisis; and advancing environmental justice and equity. The EPA believes this funding plays a significant role in ensuring continued access to resources to support infrastructure improvements that protect public health, safeguard the environment, and advance environmental justice at the public water system level.

It is an EPA priority to ensure there are more communities with applications for federal funding to assist in providing quality water infrastructure and reliable water services. Technical assistance can help communities and is key to supporting this priority.

TA providers are expected to collaborate with states, Tribes, and territories to facilitate dialogue with

1 For the purposes of this announcement, a “private well” is defined as a well owned by a homeowner or group of homeowners that supplies drinking water to fewer than 25 people and contains fewer than 15 service connections.

communities focused on local needs and proposed solutions. The EPA is committed to providing technical assistance to meet the needs of utilities and communities.

The EPA is has a number of technical assistance opportunities, and this announcement is part of the EPA’s water technical assistance (WaterTA) portfolio.

Section I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Program Objectives All communities deserve access to safe, clean, and reliable water. The EPA’s priority is to support training and technical assistance to communities of need and improve public health through enhancement of technical, managerial, and financial capacity, compliance, and drinking water infrastructure. The training and technical assistance will help ensure that communities that have historically struggled to access public funding receive the support they need. The EPA aims to maximize the potential for these funds to significantly benefit rural, small, or Tribal communities with training and technical assistance in their respective public waters systems. Applicants are encouraged to prioritize training and technical assistance that support environmental justice. Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. This goal will be achieved when everyone enjoys:

• The same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards, and

• Equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.

Awards made through this NOFO are intended also to enable communities to comply with environmental regulations and build their technical, managerial, and financial capacity to sustainably operate drinking water infrastructure. Providing assistance in technical, managerial, and financial capacity building will allow communities to better protect both public health and the environment and support the Justice40 Initiative. With respect to this NOFO, the benefits as described under the

Justice40 Initiative include training and technical assistance that support or aid improvements to communities and private well owners experiencing limited water and sanitation access and affordability and development of critical clean water and waste infrastructure. More information on the Justice40 initiative is available.

The EPA encourages all eligible applicants to apply and recognizes that new applicants are essential to expanding the pool of service providers able to address the technical, managerial, and financial capacity needs of small drinking water systems, small publicly owned wastewater systems and onsite/decentralized wastewater systems and private well owners. New applicants may help to expand the pool and increase diversity in supporting projects that benefit rural, small, or Tribal communities. New applicants are applicants that have not received a Training and Technical Assistance to Improve Water Quality and Enable Small Public Water Systems to Provide Safe Drinking Water award from the EPA in the past two years.

https://www.epa.gov/water-infrastructure/water-technical-assistance-waterta https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40-epa

The EPA is soliciting applications from eligible applicants for training and technical assistance projects in three National Priority Areas as discussed in further detail below. The EPA expects to make at least one award in each National Priority Area and may redistribute the awards per area based on the quality of applications received and other applicable considerations.

Infrastructure projects such as repairing water or sewer lines, adding new equipment, or upgrading, retrofitting, or rehabilitating existing equipment, are not eligible for funding under this announcement.

B. National Priority Areas

Each application submitted under this announcement must address only one of the three

National Priority Areas described below. Applicants may submit more than one application package under this announcement as long as each one is submitted separately and addresses only one National Priority Area. The cover page of each application package must clearly indicate the National Priority Area addressed in the application. If an applicant submits an application covering more than one National Priority Area, it will be rejected.

National Priority Area 1: Training and Technical Assistance for Small Public Water Systems to Achieve and Maintain Compliance with the SDWA, including Improving Financial and Managerial Capacity

Under this National Priority Area, the EPA is soliciting applications to provide training and technical assistance for small public water systems to enable such systems to achieve and maintain compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and to build their financial and managerial capacity to provide safe drinking water over the long term. The ability for small systems to attain and maintain financial and managerial capacity is critical to ensuring that systems can reliably and sustainably provide safe water to its customers. For purposes of this announcement, “small public water systems” are defined as community and non-community water systems serving a population of less than 10,000 persons. These public water systems include small community water systems and small transient or non-transient non-community water systems such as hospitals, schools, and restaurants. The majority of community water systems in the nation serve fewer than 10,000 persons. Approximately 80 percent of these systems serve 500 persons or fewer.

Many small public water systems face challenges in reliably providing safe drinking water to their customers and consistently meeting the requirements of the SDWA and the National

Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs). These challenges include, but are not limited to:

(1) lack of adequate revenue or access to financing; (2) aging infrastructure; (3) retirement of experienced system operators and difficulty retaining current operators; (4) difficulty training operators; (5) managers and operators who lack the requisite financial, technical, or managerial skills; (6) lack of planning for infrastructure upgrades or the ability to respond to and recover from natural disasters (e.g., floods or tornadoes); (7) lack of planning for cybersecurity upgrades or the ability to respond to and recover from malevolent acts; and (8) lack of understanding of existing or new regulatory requirements and treatment technologies. As a result, some small systems may experience frequent or long-term compliance challenges in reliably providing safe water to their customers, while others may currently be in compliance but lack the technical capacity to maintain compliance.

For this National Priority Area, applicants should describe their proposed approach for providing training and technical assistance for personnel who operate or manage small public water systems (including decision makers such as trustees, board members, or system owners).

Applicants should also describe how they intend to strengthen the technical capacity of personnel and enable them to comply with the regulatory requirements applicable to their system.

Applicants should describe how they will facilitate small public water systems becoming more resilient to natural disasters and malevolent acts. Additionally, applicants should describe their proposed approach to help small public water systems build their financial and managerial capacity to address current needs and to achieve long-term sustainability and plan locally driven solutions. Training and technical assistance may be provided through face-to-face trainings and site visits or through remote learning approaches, taking into consideration the benefits of face-to-face community assistance. This assistance may also include circuit-rider and multi-state regional technical assistance programs and training.

Technical capacity refers to the physical infrastructure of the water system, including, but not limited to, the adequacy of the source water, the adequacy of the system’s infrastructure (i.e., source, treatment, storage, and distribution), the resiliency to natural disasters and malevolent acts, and the ability of system personnel to adequately operate and maintain the system and to apply necessary technical knowledge (e.g., certified operators, water system resiliency and security).

Financial capacity refers to the financial resources of the water system, including, but not limited to, revenue sufficiency, user rate-setting, customer water assistance programs, rate collection, creditworthiness, fiscal controls, operational budgeting, and planning. Managerial capacity refers to the management structure and practices of the water system, including, but not limited to, ownership accountability, staffing and organization, maintenance programs, and effective linkages and communication with customers and regulatory agencies.

Applicants should describe their proposed approach to making training and technical assistance available nationally in all 50 states and the U.S. territories as described under Section I.C, Providing Training and Technical Assistance on a National Basis, including how they will reach out to Tribally-owned and -operated systems, and how they will provide training and technical assistance to these systems. Applicants should describe a thorough and flexible approach that tailors the training and technical assistance techniques and resources to public water systems.

Additionally, applicants should demonstrate cultural competency such as using appropriate language fluency to serve their target audience. Technical assistance should be provided in a culturally competent manner, cognizant of community sensitivities.

The goals of the training and technical assistance activities under this priority area are to assist small public water systems in achieving and maintaining compliance with the SDWA and the NPDWRs, and to assist with their financial and managerial capabilities in order to reliably provide safe drinking water over the long term. Further, the goals involve supporting utilities in the development of customer assistance programs or providing outreach for such programs.

Applicants may also provide training and technical assistance to utilities on consumer assistance programs and on how to help qualifying households obtain assistance through consumer assistance programs.

Applicants should describe how they will document and report progress toward meeting these goals as described in Section I.D, the EPA’s Strategic Plan and Anticipated Environmental Results. Applicants should also describe a process whereby they will consult with the appropriate regulatory authority (such as the state or territorial primacy agency or the EPA regional direct implementation coordinators) for each state, Tribe, or territory in which the assistance is to be expended or otherwise made available prior to providing training and technical assistance in that state, Tribe, or territory. In particular, applicants should indicate how they will coordinate and collaborate with the state, Tribe, territory, or the EPA to identify the systems in greatest need of assistance and identify the training topics of greatest need to the small public water systems; how they will keep those agencies, the EPA grant project officer, and appropriate regional coordinators informed regarding the assistance provided; and how they will document these results.

Training and technical assistance activities to support financial and managerial capacity development may involve assisting system managers, decision makers, and others in understanding sustainable management practices such as asset management, maintenance programs, fiscal planning, rate-setting, workforce recruitment and retention, planning for impacts from natural disasters and malevolent acts, and water system partnership options that are necessary to promote system compliance and sustainability over the long term.

Applicants should describe how the proposed approach supports environmental justice goals when providing training and technical assistance. The EPA’s commitment to providing technical assistance supports communities to identify water challenges, develop plans, build technical, financial, and managerial capacity, and develop application materials to access water infrastructure funding. The following are examples of eligible training and technical assistance activities for small public water systems that support this National Priority Area.

Example activities include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Provide operator training and technical assistance such as: (1) on how to comply with NPDWRs, with emphasis on regulatory requirements that present a particular challenge for small systems, such as the Ground Water Rule and the

Disinfection and Disinfectant Byproducts Rules. Applicants should identify the specific rules that present these challenges in their applications, including any state rules that might apply; (2) assist operators with newer regulations such as the PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation, the Revised Total Coliform

Rule requirements, and the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions requirements and related guidance; (3) address microbial, nitrate/nitrite, arsenic, radionuclides, lead and disinfection byproducts contamination; and (4) improve the knowledge and skill competency of drinking water system personnel in the areas of managerial and financial capacity.

• Provide training and technical assistance to identify funding sources that will support continued technical, managerial, and financial capacity at the water systems and address public health risks.

• Provide technical assistance on applications to access water infrastructure funding.

• Provide training sessions for water system managers and board members in fiscal planning, communicating effectively with system customers, asset management program implementation, development of financial assessments and rate analyses, and other sustainable management topics.

• Provide training to decision makers and board members on water infrastructure and operations as well as SDWA requirements and their responsibilities.

• Provide training and technical assistance to diagnose and trouble-shoot system operational and compliance-related problems and identify solutions.

• Provide training and technical assistance to systems to help develop and implement source water protection plans.

• Conduct energy audits and water loss analyses to recommend potential energy and water efficiencies and cost savings.

• Provide training and technical assistance to systems facing malevolent acts and earthquake impacts, drought, flooding, climate change and other weather-related challenges.

• Provide training and technical assistance to community water systems to assist them with Safe Drinking Water Act section 1433/America’s Water Infrastructure

Act section 2013 risk and resilience assessments and emergency response plan requirements.

• Provide training and technical assistance to water systems that serve a population under 3,301 who voluntarily complete risk and resilience assessments and emergency response plans.

• Conduct preliminary engineering evaluations to assess treatment, storage, and distribution system issues, and identify low-cost alternative technology and management techniques.

• Provide training and technical assistance on workforce development and training for operator certification and continuing education units (CEUs). Applicants should describe how they would obtain state approval for CEU credits for their training courses.

• Work with systems to evaluate opportunities of collaboration with other systems, including shared operators and treatment; and identification, restructuring, connection and consolidation of systems to support SDWA compliance and the provision of safe water to their communities.

• Provide water systems with training on connecting and communicating with their communities.

• Engage the broader community, including harder-to-reach portions of the community, to advance clean drinking water solutions. Provide training and technical assistance on the development of customer assistance programs or providing outreach for such programs.

• Provide training and technical assistance in water conservation program implementation.

The EPA also encourages applicants to propose other types of activities that may achieve the objectives of this National Priority Area. All eligible applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V.A, including how well and thoroughly the National Priority Area is addressed.

National Priority Area 2: Training and Technical Assistance for Small Publicly-Owned

Wastewater Systems and Onsite/Decentralized Wastewater Systems to Help Improve Water

Quality and Sustainable Operations technical assistance to: (a) small publicly-owned wastewater systems; and (b) communities served by onsite/decentralized wastewater systems. Under this priority area, the application must address the two elements further described below. For the purposes of this announcement, “small publicly-owned wastewater systems” are defined as wastewater systems or treatment facilities that have permitted and actual flows of less than 1 million gallons per day

(MGD) and are: owned by a public entity (such as a municipality) or not-for-profit entity (such as regional sewer districts), and/or serve Tribal communities (with the exception of systems that are owned by U.S. federal entities). “Onsite/decentralized systems” are defined as: publicly-owned or privately- owned onsite or clustered systems used to collect, treat, and disperse or reclaim wastewater from a small community, Tribe, or service area that are publicly- or privately-owned and/or serve Tribal communities (with the exception of systems that are owned by U.S.

federal entities).

For this National Priority Area, applicants should describe their proposed approach for providing training and technical assistance to small publicly-owned wastewater systems and to communities served by onsite/decentralized wastewater systems as described in the above paragraph. Applicants should describe how the proposed approach supports environmental justice goals when providing training and technical assistance. The EPA’s commitment to providing technical assistance supports communities to identify water challenges, develop plans, build technical, financial, and managerial capacity, and develop application materials to access water infrastructure funding.

Training and technical assistance may be provided through face-to-face trainings and site visits or through remote learning approaches, taking into consideration the benefits of face-to-face community assistance. This assistance may also include circuit-rider and multi-state regional technical assistance programs and training. Assistance may include: training on long term sustainability and effectiveness of small systems and decentralized systems, evaluation of treatment and/or infrastructure alternatives, training on preliminary engineering evaluations, assessments of management approaches and their effectiveness, training on improved water and energy efficiency, developing appropriate rate structures, education of local officials, identification of funding alternatives, and/or use of green infrastructure, among other activities.

Applicants should describe their proposed approach to making training and technical assistance available as described under Section I.C, Providing Training and Technical Assistance on a National Basis, including how they will reach out to Tribally-owned and -operated systems, and how they will provide training and technical assistance to these systems. Applicants should describe a thorough and flexible approach that tailors the training and technical assistance techniques and resources to provide to public water systems. Additionally, applicants should demonstrate cultural competency such as using appropriate language fluency to serve their target audience. Technical assistance should be provided in a culturally competent manner, cognizant of community sensitivities.

The goals of the training and technical assistance activities are to assist small publicly-owned wastewater systems and onsite/decentralized wastewater systems to improve operational performance and sustainable operations over the long term, thereby improving public health and water quality. Applicants should describe how they will document and report on progress toward meeting these goals as described in Section I.D, the EPA’s Strategic Plan and Anticipated

Environmental Results. Applicants should also describe a process whereby they will consult with the appropriate regulatory authority (such as the state or territorial primacy agency or the EPA regional direct implementation coordinator) in each state, Tribe, or territory in which the assistance is to be expended or otherwise made available prior to providing training and technical assistance in that state, Tribe, or territory. In particular, applicants should indicate how they will work with the state, territory, or the EPA to identify the systems in greatest need of assistance; how they will keep those agencies, the EPA grant project officer, and appropriate EPA regional coordinators informed regarding the assistance provided; and how they will document these results.

All eligible applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V.A, including how well and thoroughly both elements of this National Priority Area are addressed. Applications for awards under this National Priority Area must address both of the following two elements. Those that do not will be rejected.

Element (a): Training and Technical Assistance for Small Publicly-Owned Wastewater Systems

Small publicly-owned wastewater systems often face many common challenges including: (1) a lack of capacity to assess current operations and identify short- and long-term opportunities for improvement; (2) frequent turnover of operations personnel; (3) personnel who lack necessary technical, financial, or managerial skills; (4) limited rate bases; (5) aging infrastructure; (6) lack of knowledge of increasingly stringent discharge limits; and (7) lack of knowledge of newer techniques to reduce discharges, assess and improve operations, and analyze infrastructure alternatives to meet water quality goals.

Training and technical assistance activities for small publicly-owned wastewater systems under this element should focus on compliance, promoting the sustainable and effective management of wastewater systems, and improving system performance. Applicants should describe in detail their approach for training, for example, assisting facility managers, utility boards, and wastewater operators in sustainable utility operations (details and examples are available).

Topics may include, for example: assessment of the system’s overall strengths and areas for improvement, asset management, energy management, rate design, improved communications with local officials, effective utility management, and identifying funding sources or other topics that help facilities maintain long-term managerial, financial, and operational success. Applicants should also describe their approach to reaching target audiences of small publicly-owned wastewater systems, especially small facilities that require additional management capacity to effectively improve the long-term sustainability of operations and/or are out of compliance with discharge permits. Additionally, applicants should describe how they will engage the broader community, including harder-to-reach portions of the community, to advance clean wastewater solutions.

Applicants should describe in detail their approach for utilizing and sharing existing information and materials on pollution prevention, facility operation and maintenance, effective utility management, wastewater treatment alternatives, infrastructure funding opportunities, and efficient water use with the communities and facilities being assisted. Applicants should describe in detail an approach for providing onsite training and technical assistance, while also providing products and assistance for a broader (e.g., nationwide) audience. These trainings or technical solutions may use existing materials, including, but not limited to, documents and tools developed by the EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Indian Health Service

(IHS), and other federal agencies. Such trainings or technical solutions could then be developed into or incorporated into existing guidebooks or webinars or other on-line training for transfer to small wastewater systems nationwide, or supported as a “train-the-trainer” approach to increase the reach of the materials.

Applicants are encouraged to prioritize training and technical assistance that support environmental justice goals. Examples of training and technical assistance activities for small publicly-owned wastewater systems that support this element include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Perform on-site trainings or technical solutions that focus on improving performance at local facilities (e.g., training on nutrient removal technologies, rate structures, energy efficiency opportunities, and assessments of sustainability and proper management of small publicly-owned wastewater systems).

• Provide training and technical assistance to identify funding sources that will support continued technical, managerial, and financial capacity at the wastewater systems and address public health risks.

• Provide technical assistance on applications to access wastewater infrastructure funding.

• Provide training to operators, staff, and managers on the sustainable and https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-water-infrastructure/rural-and-small-systems-guidebook-sustainable-water-and-wastewater effective management of small wastewater treatment systems.

• Provide training to help small wastewater treatment operators obtain and maintain certification.

• Conduct training visits, calls, or webinars to facilitate reaching small wastewater treatment systems nationwide on topics described in this element.

• Provide technical assistance to improve the knowledge and skill of municipalities, publicly owned treatment works and decentralized wastewater treatment system personnel in the areas of technical, managerial, and financial capacity.

objectives of Element (a) of this National Priority Area.

Element (b): Training and Technical Assistance for Onsite/Decentralized Wastewater Systems

Onsite/decentralized systems face significant maintenance and management challenges, including: (1) lack of information on system location, performance, age, and maintenance history; (2) improper design or siting; (3) lack of owner knowledge of proper preventative maintenance techniques; (4) lack of life-cycle management; and (5) lack of owner/service provider knowledge of advanced treatment and dispersal technologies.

Under this element, applicants should describe in detail their approach to providing training and technical assistance on aspects of decentralized system planning, installation, operation and maintenance, and management approaches. Applicants should also describe in detail their approach for utilizing and sharing existing information and materials on appropriate treatment and dispersal options and funding opportunities to the appropriate identified audience(s).

Applicants may use documents and tools developed by the EPA for these trainings. Such trainings or technical solutions could be adapted into webinars, developed into guidebooks for transfer to communities nationwide, or supported as a "train-the-trainer" approach to increase the reach of the materials. The applicant should describe how these solutions and materials provide a level of cultural competency including appropriate language fluency to serve communities in the geographic area to be served.

environmental justice goals. Examples of training and technical assistance activities for onsite/decentralized wastewater systems that support this element include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Assistance in accessing funds for communities with decentralized wastewater system projects.

• Assistance identifying funding sources.

• Development of preliminary needs analysis.

• Consideration of alternatives for wastewater treatment options, including advanced treatment, nutrient control, low-impact development, and other green infrastructure practices.

• Project planning, siting, and design.

• Development of outreach tools and materials to support facilitating regionalization and interconnection opportunities between septic owners and centralized wastewater systems.

• Development of maintenance schedules.

• Assistance forming responsible management entities (RMEs) and supporting the development of a long-term business plan.

• Outreach to individual system owners and the general public on the basics of decentralized systems, such as how they function and the wastewater treatment process.

• Outreach to individual system owners and the general public on proper preventative and corrective maintenance techniques.

• Assist publicly owned treatment works and decentralized wastewater treatment systems in conducting analyses on the potential benefits of partnerships and collaboration with other systems.

• Provide technical assistance to improve the knowledge and skill of municipalities, publicly owned treatment works and/or decentralized wastewater treatment system personnel in the areas of technical, managerial, and financial capacity.

• Train community leaders, service providers, and regulatory officials to assist in considering funding access/mechanisms, construction alternatives, highlighting the importance of maintenance and management, and facilitating a properly trained workforce (e.g., certification of installers and operators).

• Develop or provide information, training, and technical assistance to organizations that work with decentralized wastewater system owners (e.g., county public health offices).

objectives of Element (b) of this National Priority Area. All eligible applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V.A, including how well and thoroughly the National Priority Area is addressed.

National Priority Area 3: Training and Technical Assistance for Private Drinking Water Well

Owners to Help Improve Water Quality technical assistance to private drinking water well owners. For the purposes of this announcement, a “private well” is defined as a well owned by a homeowner or group of homeowners that supplies drinking water to fewer than 25 people and contains fewer than 15 service connections.

Approximately 30 million Americans receive their drinking water from private drinking water wells. Private drinking water well owners face many challenges in providing safe water.

Protection of private drinking water wells does not fall under the authority of the SDWA, so the drinking water well owners often face challenges in obtaining the assistance they need to keep their drinking water wells in good working order and to protect the quality of their water supply.

These challenges include where to go or whom to contact for accurate and timely information and technical assistance on all aspects of private drinking water well ownership, including well construction, operation, maintenance, well testing, local and state health and other relevant https://www.epa.gov/septic/using-responsible-management-entity-rme-manage-tribal-onsite-septic-wastewater-treatment regulations or programs, local ground water quality and quantity concerns, and well emergency contacts and procedures.

For this National Priority Area, applicants should describe their approach to providing training and technical assistance to private drinking water well owners. Applicants should also describe how the proposed approach supports environmental justice goals when providing training and technical assistance.

Training and technical assistance may be provided through face-to-face meetings and site visits or through remote learning approaches, taking into consideration the benefits of face-to-face community assistance. This assistance may also include circuit-rider and multi-state regional technical assistance programs and training.

Applicants should describe their proposed approach to making training and technical assistance available nationally in all 50 states and the U.S. territories as described under Section I.C, Providing Training and Technical Assistance on a National Basis, including how they will reach out to private drinking water well owners on Tribal lands and how they will provide training and technical assistance to these private drinking water well owners. Applicants should describe a thorough and flexible approach that tailors the training and technical assistance techniques and resources to provide to public water systems. Additionally, applicants should demonstrate cultural competency such as using appropriate language fluency to serve their target audience.

The goals of the training and technical assistance activities are to assist private drinking water well owners with information they need to protect their drinking water supply and improve water quality. Applicants should describe how they will document and report on progress toward meeting these goals as described in Section I.D, the EPA’s Strategic Plan and Anticipated

Environmental Results. Applicants should also describe a process whereby they will consult with the appropriate regulatory authority (such as the state or territorial primacy agency or the EPA regional direct implementation coordinators) in each state, Tribe, or territory in which the assistance is to be expended or otherwise made available prior to providing training and technical assistance in that state, Tribe, or territory. In particular, applicants should indicate how they will work with the state, territory, or the EPA to identify the drinking water well owners in greatest need of assistance; how they will keep those agencies, the EPA grant project officer, and appropriate EPA regional coordinators informed regarding the assistance provided; and how they will document these results.

environmental justice goals. Examples of eligible training and technical assistance activities for private drinking water wells that support this National Priority Area include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Developing or providing online and hard copy information and materials on topics of interest to private drinking water well owners, such as well construction, well maintenance and operation, well testing, ground water quality and protection, state regulations impacting private wells, water rights, and how to respond to well contamination emergencies.

• Providing information, technical assistance, and training to other organizations with activities that affect private drinking water well owners.

• Providing assistance with identifying funding sources.

• Adequately manning a hotline with a toll-free number for private drinking water well owners to call for timely assistance and advice on private drinking water well matters.

• Providing electronic newsletters or using social media to provide topical or emergency information quickly to private drinking water well owners with internet access.

• Educating private drinking water well owners through face-to-face visits regarding potential or actual threats to their wells and whom to contact for help.

• Providing technical assistance or outreach on options for connecting private wells to public water systems.

objectives of this National Priority Area. All eligible applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V.A, including how well and thoroughly the National Priority Area is addressed.

C. Providing Training and Technical Assistance on a National Basis

Applications for projects under all of the National Priority Areas described above should demonstrate the applicant’s ability and approach to making training and technical assistance available on a national basis. Applicants should make training and technical assistance available nationally in all 50 states and the U.S. territories (i.e., Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American

Samoa), including to Tribally-owned and -operated systems, through a combination of face-to-face/onsite and remote training and technical assistance approaches. The training and technical assistance may include circuit-rider and multi-state regional technical assistance, or some other program design that makes training and technical assistance available nationally. Applicants should describe how they will reach out to Tribally-owned and -operated systems and how they will provide training and technical assistance to these systems. Please note the “Providing

Training and Technical Assistance on a National Basis” evaluation criteria in Section V.A.

Applications will be evaluated based on the criteria in Section V.A, including the demonstrated ability and described approach to making training and technical assistance available nationally in the maximum number of states and U.S. territories through face-to-face/onsite and/or remote training and technical assistance. The EPA will give priority consideration to applications that describe a thorough, quality, and flexible approach that tailors the training and technical assistance techniques and resources to address the specific needs of the target audience in as many states and U.S. territories as possible. A tailored approach should describe how the applicant will use the most appropriate techniques and materials to address the needs of various audiences, such as system managers versus operators or private drinking water well owners, as well as the unique needs of populations determined by geographical, socio-economic, system-type, educational, or other factors. The applicant should take into consideration how state and local regulations and policies impact the implementation of national standards. The approach should also demonstrate how the applicant would balance the use of face-to-face/onsite techniques, which often result in a high level of understanding and knowledge retention for participants, but are usually more expensive and resource-intensive, with the need to provide assistance in a maximum number of states and U.S. territories through remote techniques.

Training and technical assistance may take the following forms.

1. Face-to-face and onsite training or technical assistance, which includes, for example, classroom training, workshops and exercises, site visits, and circuit-riders or other multi-state and/or regional approaches to provide onsite technical assistance.

2. Remote training or technical assistance, which includes, for example, webcasts, video conferencing, routine conference calls, hotline and helpdesk access, online courses, and other forms of distance learning.

Training and technical assistance may also include developing and disseminating (through web posting and other means) various resources such as training and educational materials or tools that can be used nationally and/or with state or territorial-specific variations, as appropriate.

Applicants should indicate in their applications an estimate as to what portion of their training and technical assistance would be face-to-face and onsite versus remote training and technical assistance.

All applications should also include a discussion of how the applicant will transfer results, effective compliance strategies and resources developed (such as tools, videos, and training materials) to interested stakeholders such as other small systems, states, territories, Tribes, local governments, and private drinking water well owners through the development and dissemination of training and educational materials, websites, or other means. Applicants should also describe how they intend to transfer results of lessons learned to states, territories, Tribes, and/or local governments, so that others may better develop their program.

Previously, the EPA has awarded financial assistance agreements to nonprofit organizations to provide technical assistance activities that are similar to those described in this announcement.

As authorized by 2 CFR 200.315, the EPA will provide data and materials developed under those agreements to successful applicants, if necessary, to avoid duplication of effort. Applications should also address how the applicant will coordinate to complement existing technical assistance efforts and avoid duplication, support community-centered solutions, be proactive, and incorporate continuous learning in line with Principle #3 of the EPA’s memorandum, Implementation of EPA Water Technical Assistance.2

D. EPA’s Strategic Plan and Anticipated Environmental Results

Applicants must demonstrate in their application how their project and proposed activities link

2 The EPA memorandum “Implementation of EPA Water Technical Assistance (TA),” dated March 24, 2023, is available at:

https://www.epa.gov/water-infrastructure/water-technical-assistance-waterta.

https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-06/Signed_Final%20EPA%20WaterTA%20Guidance_March%202023.pdf to the Strategic Plan Goal and Objective identified below. This announcement is consistent with the EPA’s priority to assist small systems with technical assistance and training to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and long-term system sustainability.

The activities to be funded under this solicitation support the FY 2022 – 2026 EPA Strategic Plan.

Awards made under this solicitation will support Goal 5: Ensure Clean and Safe Water for All

Communities, Objective 5.1: Ensure Safe Drinking Water and Reliable Water Infrastructure of the

Strategic Plan.

The EPA also requires that grant applicants adequately describe environmental outputs and outcomes to be achieved under assistance agreements (see EPA Order 5700.7A1, Environmental

Results under Assistance Agreements for additional information regarding “outputs” and

“outcomes”). All proposed projects must address the Strategic Plan and include specific statements describing the environmental results of the proposed project in terms of well-defined outputs and, to the maximum extent practicable, well-defined outcomes that will demonstrate how the project will contribute to the overall protection of human health and the environment by ensuring safe drinking water and preventing water pollution.

For National Priority Area 1, outputs and outcomes should directly address the goal of helping small public water systems achieve and maintain compliance with the SDWA and provide safe drinking water in the long term. For National Priority Area 2 and National Priority Area 3, outputs and outcomes should address the goal of improving water quality.

Environmental outputs (or deliverables) refer to an environmental activity, effort, and/or associated work product related to an environmental goal or objective, that will be produced or provided over a period of time or by a specified date. Outputs may be quantitative or qualitative but must be measurable during an assistance agreement funding period.

Examples of anticipated environmental outputs from the cooperative agreements expected to be awarded under this announcement for National Priority Area 1, Training and Technical

Assistance for Small Public Water Systems to Achieve and Maintain Compliance with the SDWA, including Improving Financial and Managerial Capacity, may include, but are not limited to, the following.

• An increased number of small public water system managers and operators receiving training and technical assistance in regulatory requirements, basic water system operations, and advanced treatment issues, including receiving training utilizing hands-on and other approaches which maximize understanding and knowledge retention.

• An increased number of small public water systems conducting diagnostic and troubleshooting…