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

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Investments must be determined to be necessary when they are initiated. Accordingly, Treasury is clarifying in the final rule that the need identified for a water or sewer project may include a need arising from reasonable expectations of future population growth, provided that it is necessary at the time the investment is initiated for the recipient to make the investment to meet this growth. For example, a recipient expecting increased population during the period of performance may install a drinking water treatment plant to meet that growth. In addition, a recipient expecting increased population growth outside the period of performance may install the treatment plant if the planning and construction timeline for the project would require work to begin during the performance period in order to meet the expected population growth. A recipient may install transmission lines as part of the development of new housing occurring during the period of performance. In this case, the housing development must be in progress; a recipient may not use the SLFRF funds to install a water main, for example, to an undeveloped tract in the expectation that in the future that tract will be developed with housing, because there would be no need for that investment to be made at the time it is initiated. For the reasons discussed above, if a project is undertaken to address expected growth in population, the project must also be sustainable, meaning that the project can continue providing the adequate minimum level of service for its estimated useful life, taking into account projected impacts of changes to the climate and other expected demands on the source of water. In considering how much of a source of water will be available in the future for the drinking water project, a recipient must consider that a source of water may be drawn upon or otherwise used for other current and expected uses, including use by fish and other wildlife. A drinking water project that is designed to address a growing population cannot be considered a necessary investment if the source of drinking water will cease to be available to meet the population's 290