EPA Announces Recipients of $25.7 Million Grant Funding for Technical Assistance to Help Rural Communities Access Clean Water

On May 18, EPA announced the recipients of $25.7 million in grant funding for water technical assistance providers. This funding is intended to support efforts to help small and rural communities supply safe drinking water and protective wastewater treatment.

Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) is anticipated to receive:

• $14 million to provide training and technical assistance for small public water systems to achieve and maintain compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, including improving financial and managerial capacity.
• $1 million to work with small publicly owned wastewater and on-site/decentralized wastewater systems to improve water quality.
• $2.7 million to work with private well owners to help improve water quality.

National Rural Water Association (NRWA) is anticipated to receive:

• $8 million to provide training and technical assistance for small public water systems to achieve and maintain compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, including improving financial and managerial capacity.

RCAP and NRWA will offer technical assistance to small public water systems that will include circuit-rider and multi-state regional technical assistance programs, training and site visits, and training or technical assistance to diagnose and troubleshoot system operational and compliance-related problems and identify solutions.