The grant program is designed to help public water systems in small, underserved, and disadvantaged communities meet and comply with SDWA drinking water regulations by providing funding for drinking water projects and activities. A factsheet and implementation document describe the eligibility and funding requirements for states participating in the grant program, how the Agency intends to award funding, and other pertinent information. Applicants are encouraged to read through the implementation document before applying.

Available Funding

The amount of funding that EPA awards to each state and territory is based on an allocation formula that includes factors for population below the poverty level, small water systems, and underserved communities, including a 10% tribal allotment. This allocation formula is applied to the available funding for the year to determine how much funding is available for each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five qualifying territories. If fewer than all states and territories participate in the program, the formula will be applied to any remaining and unclaimed base funds, and these funds will be allocated to all participating states and territories.

For FY22 and FY23, EPA has allotted over $50 Million for the Small, Underserved, and Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program.

Eligible Applicants

The grant program is a noncompetitive voluntary program. Eligibility to apply for and receive funds is limited to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and tribes within the U.S. Please see the tribal grant webpage for information on tribal allotments. Once funding has been provided to the states and territories, communities will need to apply to their respective state program for assistance.

Eligible Projects

Projects resulting from SUDC grant funding must take place in a community that is underserved, small and disadvantaged, as defined by SDWA 1459A.

A community is considered ‘underserved’ when it meets at least one of the following criteria:

• The community does not have household drinking water or wastewater services.
• The community is served by a public water system that violates or exceeds any Maximum Contaminant Level, treatment technique, or action level.

A community is considered ‘small and disadvantaged’ when it meets at least one of the following criteria:

• The respective state’s affordability criteria determines that the community is disadvantaged or may become disadvantaged.
• The community has a population of less than 10,000 individuals and does not have the capacity to incur debt sufficient to finance a project or activity.

In addition to taking place in a qualifying community, grant funding must be used on projects that will help the community meet and comply with SDWA regulations through infrastructure work, technical, managerial, and financial capacity building activities, or activities necessary for a state to respond to a contaminant.

Examples of qualifying project activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Treatment
• Transmission and Distribution
• Source
• Storage
• Creation of new systems
• Consolidation
• Household water quality testing, including for unregulated contaminants
• Providing households access to drinking water services
• Assistance to increase technical, managerial, and financial capacity
• Drinking water contamination response efforts.

How to Apply

EPA Regions will initiate contact with states to inform them of the program and the application process.