Agenda - Council - 09/13/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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recipients may also use SLFRF funds for water infrastructure to provide relief, such as interconnecting water systems or rehabilitating existing wells during an extended drought. Public Comment: Many commenters expressed support for the interim final rule's alignment of the use of funds for water and sewer infrastructure under the SLFRF with the project categories provided through the EPA's DWSRF and CWSRF programs. Many commenters also provided recommendations about the specific types of water infrastructure projects that should be eligible under the final rule. In many of these cases, commenters recommended that Treasury include project types that are already eligible under the DWSRF and CWSRF and thus eligible under the interim final rule and final rule. For example, several commenters requested that aquifer recharge projects, or other groundwater protection and restoration projects, be included as eligible uses of SLFRF when certain aquifer recharge projects that 1) implement a nonpoint source pollution management program308 or 2) constitute reuse of wastewater, stormwater, or subsurface drainage water are in fact eligible uses under the CWSRF. Furthermore, under the DWSRF, eligible projects include certain aquifer storage and recovery systems for water storage. Treasury Response: Eligible projects articulated in the DWSRF and CWSRF continue to be eligible uses of SLFRF funds under the final rule. Recognizing that recipients have faced challenges interpreting eligible use categories under the interim final rule or cross-referencing EPA program materials to interpret eligible project types, Treasury is including in this Supplementary Information additional information on the types of projects eligible under the 308 Specifically, this would include desalination projects that decrease the burden on aquifers where there is causal relationship between aquifer withdrawals and saltwater intrusion if the projects implement a nonpoint source pollution management program under section 319 of the Clean Water Act. This could include projects in which desalinated seawater is injected into the aquifer to mitigate or prevent salt water intrusion, as well as projects in which brackish water is removed from an aquifer, desalinated, and returned to the aquifer. 273