[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 92 (Thursday, May 11, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30404-30406]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-11818]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6605-6]


Notice of Availability of Funds for Source Water Protection

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks proposals from 
organizations interested in working with communities across the nation 
that are served by public water systems with highly or moderately 
susceptible drinking water sources to protect their sources of drinking 
water from contamination using a watershed or ``resource-based'' 
approach.
    EPA is providing this financial support to:
     Facilitate the establishment of a technical field presence 
nationwide to help communities that would benefit from collaborative 
source water protection actions with other communities; and
     Assist communities across the country in addressing the 
obstacles to protecting their water resources and lowering the 
susceptibility of source waters through a watershed or ``resource-
based'' planning approach.
    EPA intends to use at least part of the funds to help an 
organization interested in establishing a national network of field 
technicians to assist communities with watershed or resource-based 
planning to protect their water supplies. However, EPA is very 
interested in seeing other types of approaches to help communities 
across the country protect drinking water sources, such as an approach 
that provides direct financial assistance and technical support to 
communities through means other than a field presence. Depending upon 
the proposals received, EPA will consider awarding a second grant that 
would complement a field technician approach.

DATES: All project proposals must be received by EPA no later than June 
12, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send five copies of the complete proposal to: Betsy Henry 
(4606), Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, U.S. EPA, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Betsy Henry, (202) 260-2399.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

What Is a State or Tribal Source Water Assessment?

    As mandated by the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, a 
state's source water assessment identifies the area that supplies water 
to each public drinking water system within the state, inventories the 
significant potential sources of contamination, and analyzes how 
susceptible the drinking water source is to contamination (often 
referred to as a ``susceptibility determination''). The Amendments 
allocated funding to states to complete source water assessments for 
all 170,000 public water systems. The results of these assessments are 
to be provided to each water supplier and made widely accessible to the 
public by 2003. EPA is also helping Tribes complete source water 
assessments of public water supplies in Indian Country.
    The assessments are intended to give communities the information 
that they need to make informed decisions to protect their drinking 
water sources from contamination.

What Is a Highly or Moderately Susceptible Source Water Area?

    There is a high degree of flexibility in how a state determines the 
susceptibility of its public water systems. The organization would need 
to work with the state source water programs to identify those public 
water systems or areas of the state that the state determines are 
highly or moderately susceptible to contamination and would most 
benefit from source water protection planning on a watershed or 
resource-wide scale.

What Is Source Water Protection?

    Source water protection is the establishment of barriers that 
significantly lower the risk of contaminants of concern entering waters 
serving as public drinking water supplies. Building upon State or 
Tribal source water assessments, more communities will be examining 
what actions are necessary to protect their

[[Page 30405]]

sources of drinking water from the identified potential threats, and 
lower the susceptibility of their water supply to contamination. 
Planning is a critical first step so that a community or group of 
communities can use their limited resources to most effectively target 
sources of contamination that pose the highest or most immediate 
threats. Many communities need assistance working through the planning 
process.
    Ideally, communities with public water systems that share the same 
resource or common threats would work together to identify their needs 
and jointly set priorities. Some basic planning elements include:
     An analysis of the state or tribal source water assessment 
for the systems involved in the planning.
     Identification of preventative action priorities and 
recommended measures for addressing them, including costs.
     Identification of an approach for determining the effect 
of the proposed priority actions on lowering the threats to source 
waters.
     Identification of alternative water supplies which would 
be needed in the case of emergencies (contingency planning).
    Many communities also need assistance in addressing their priority 
preventative actions. Preventative actions might include land 
acquisition, land use ordinance establishment, leaky underground gas 
tank removal from sensitive areas, relocation of high-risk threats, or 
other measures.

What Is ``Resource-Based'' Source Water Protection?

    A resource-based approach to source water protection promotes 
partnerships between public water systems that share a common source 
(river, lake, spring or aquifer) or face common contaminant threats. 
The approach encourages joint protection of water supplies through a 
single planning and prioritization process. A single water system might 
also benefit from a resource-based approach if the community can not 
adequately protect its drinking water source without collaborating with 
communities in the same watershed or recharge area that may have more 
control over potential threats to the water supply.
    While similar, a resource-based approach is distinguished from 
watershed planning by focusing also on ground water areas that may not 
coincide with a watershed boundary. It is distinguished from 
traditional wellhead protection planning by broadening the scope from 
the traditional water system-by-system planning approach to planning on 
a shared resource scale that is based on natural geological and 
hydrological boundaries. However, a resource-based approach is not 
necessarily the same as large aquifer-wide planning (such as the 
Edwards aquifer) or a large watershed (e.g. Mississippi basin). These 
large scales often are beyond the scope of what is realistic or 
necessary for protecting sources of drinking water.

Why Is EPA Limiting the Focus to Highly or Moderately Susceptible 
Source Waters, and Using a Watershed or Resource-Wide Approach?

    There are over 170,000 public water systems in the United States. 
While States have resources through the State Revolving Fund Programs, 
EPA has limited discretionary resources to help local communities 
implement source water protection for all of these systems' sources of 
drinking water. EPA believes that communities with public water 
supplies that are most susceptible to contamination should be the 
communities first targeted for assistance to identify and implement 
preventative measures to protect their drinking water sources.
    EPA is also trying to encourage watershed-based or resource-based 
approaches to source water protection as an alternative to the 
traditional water system-by-system wellhead protection approach. This 
``multi-system'' planning process can be more cost effective because 
one protection plan serves several systems. Also, it can result in a 
level of protection that is sometimes more effective in lowering 
threats, since threats to water quality are not always close to the 
intake or wellhead.

Funding Level and Statutory Authority

    Funding is authorized under the Safe Drinking Water Act 42 U.S.C. 
300j-1(c)(3)(C).
    Total funding available for distribution is $1.4 million dollars. 
EPA intends to disburse these funds to one or possibly two 
organizations if, based on the applications received, communities will 
benefit from two approaches that complement one another.

Proposal Contents

     Interested applicants should submit a work plan that:
     Outlines the approach to assisting communities to engage 
in community-based source water protection planning and priority action 
implementation.
     Includes a budget for no less than $700,000 and no more 
than $1.4 million for implementing the approach over a two-year period.
     Provides biographies of the project leaders.

Eligibility Criteria

     The recipient organization must be a not-for-profit 
organization, educational institution, or public agency that meets the 
following criteria:
     Experience providing technical assistance to communities 
implementing community-based environmental programs for protecting 
drinking water, ground water or surface water quality.
     Experience working with communities to do resource-based/
watershed or multi-jurisdictional planning, and facilitating 
partnerships between disparate stakeholders.
     Access to an established network capable of working with 
communities nationwide.
     Experience working with state agencies.
     Experience handling large grants of $700,000 or more, 
timely periodic reporting of progress and displaying the results of 
those grants to a wide public.

EPA Project Proposal Evaluation Criteria

    EPA will evaluate all applicants based on the following criteria:
     Clearly outlines the approach that the organization will 
take to assist communities in a variety of regions across the country 
served by public water systems that have state-identified highly or 
moderately susceptible source waters. (30 points)
     Demonstrates knowledge of source water protection and 
ability to provide assistance to communities to effectively protect 
their drinking water supplies and address their highest priority needs. 
(25 points)
     Describes approach to community involvement in source 
water protection planning. (20)
     Identifies innovative means of networking the different 
communities receiving assistance with one another. (20 points)
     Leverages other resources as part of the proposed 
approach. (5 points)

Application Procedure

    Please submit five copies of a proposal that includes a narrative 
work plan and budget that does not exceed 10 single spaced pages, with 
one-inch margins and 12-point font, stapled in one corner with no 
binding. You may also include up to 15 pages of supplementary material, 
such as the resumes and summaries of prior work. After EPA review, 
selected applicants will be asked to submit an SF-424.

[[Page 30406]]

Schedule of Activities

    This is the estimated schedule of activities for review and award 
of proposals.
     Day 30: Proposals due 30 days after publication of Federal 
Register notice.
     Day 44: All applicants notified of government review 
status.
     Day 54: Selected applicant(s) submit a SF-424.
     July 10: Selected application(s) forwarded to EPA grants 
office.
     Aug. 10: Grants processing complete/Congressional 
notifications.

    Dated: May 4, 2000.
Cynthia C. Dougherty,
 Director, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water.
[FR Doc. 00-11818 Filed 5-10-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P