Water and Sewer
Water & Sewer 
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) dedicates $55 billion to various programs representing the largest investment in drinking water, wastewater, water reuse, conveyance and water storage infrastructure in American history, including dedicated funding to replace lead service lines and address the dangerous chemical PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl).
Funding Overview:
The Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds provide below market rate loans and grants to fund water infrastructure improvements to protect public health and the environment.
The Lead Service Lines program provides funding for lead pipe replacement.
The PFAS and Emerging Contaminants program provides funding for States and water utilities to be used in the treatment of any pollutant that is a perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) or any pollutant identified by the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator as a contaminant of emerging concern.
The Western Water program appropriates funds to be spent on projects associated with water storage, groundwater storage, and conveyance projects, water recycling and reuse projects, water desalination projects and studies, watershed management, dam repair and replacement, repairing and replacing aging infrastructure, and WaterSMART grants.
The Indian Health Service Sanitation Facilities Construction program provides American Indian and Alaska Native homes and communities with essential water supply, sewage disposal, and solid waste disposal facilities. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act requires the Indian Health Service to maintain inventories of sanitation deficiencies for existing Indian homes and communities, to prioritize those deficiencies, and to annually report those deficiencies to Congress.
The Water and Sewer Tax excludes from taxable income any “contribution in aid of construction” or any other contribution for purposes of water storage.
Rural Water Projects invest in water infrastructure projects in rural communities.
Learn more about AWIFNC
The Alaska Water Infrastructure Financial Navigation Center (AWIFNC) program is based on a collaborative approach to help local governments identify water/wastewater challenges and solutions, build capacity, and develop applications to access infrastructure funding.
AWIFNC’s emphasis is on training and technical assistance to help rural, small communities acquire funding through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (this includes increased and new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), and generally improve eligibility for and access to state and federal funding.
Additional Information
The BIL Guidebook available at build.gov
Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) – The DEC will be implementing a large amount of the funds for clean water and sewer in Alaska. The State Revolving Fund (SRF) for clean water and drinking water will have significantly increased funding, such that they will be able to provide largely forgiven loans to eligible water & sewer projects. Learn more about the SRF here. The DEC is responsible for planning use of clean water resources across the state, and one of the main instruments for doing this is their Intended Use Plan, which releases updated project priority lists quarterly. Contact the DEC to learn more about how this plan is created and share your community’s priorities.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – The EPA is responsible for national distribution of money for water & wastewater infrastructure. This includes setting the regulations for state SRF programs, implementing tribal set-asides of Clean Water Funds, and pollution prevention programs.