The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the release of a new guide to help the 51 Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) programs apply best practices to address nonpoint source (NPS) pollution.
The CWSRF is the nation’s largest financial resource dedicated to responding to water quality problems. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act increased grants to states and Puerto Rico to finance actions to provide water quality improvement, including addressing NPS pollution.
NPS pollution remains the nation’s largest water quality challenge. Each state CWSRF program defines its own goals and operating policies, while also following federal requirements. While the Clean Water Act Section 319 NPS program provides funds for NPS pollution, the new guide identifies activities that both Section 319 and CWSRF programs can support and that address groundwater quality problems, including:
- Agricultural best management practices
- Total maximum daily load implementation
- Habitat protection and restoration
- Best management practices that implement watershed-based plans including wellhead protection
- Urban runoff not associated with a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit
- Abandoned mine drainage treatment and remediation
- Water quality issues at brownfield and Superfund sites
- Decentralized/septic wastewater system repair, replacement, and upgrades
- Land acquisition for watershed protection
- Development of watershed-based plans.
Click here to access the guide.