Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Green Project Reserve - PUB3055

The Green Project Reserve became a provision of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Later, the Federal Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriation Act (P.L. 122-74) included additional requirements affecting the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program, such as details for determining Green Project Reserve eligibility.

Since 2012, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s appropriations acts have included language that states, “…to the extent there are sufficient eligible projects applications, not less than 10 percent of the funds made available…shall be used...to address green infrastructure, water efficiency improvements, energy efficiency improvements, or other environmentally innovative activities.” Each state revolving fund capitalization grant since 2012 has included this requirement.

Through the normal Clean Water State Revolving Fund application cycle, the department identifies projects that are eligible for Clean Water State Revolving Fund funding and meet the Green Project Reserve eligibility based on the project documentation provided. The department, in an effort to increase the marketability of the Green Project Reserve, gives an additional 30 priority points on the Intended Use Plan to projects that are Green Project Reserve eligible.

The descriptions of Green Project Reserve’s four categories are:

• Green infrastructure: A wide array of practices at multiple scales that manage wet weather and maintains and restores natural hydrology by infiltrating, evapotranspiring and harvesting, and using stormwater.
• Water efficiency improvements: The use of improved technologies and practices to deliver equal or better services with less water.
• Energy efficiency improvements: The use of improved technologies and practices to reduce the energy consumption of water quality projects, use energy in a more efficient way or produce or utilized renewable energy.
• Other environmentally innovative activities: New or innovative approaches to delivering services or managing water resources in a more sustainable way.

The Green Project Reserve consists of two types of eligibility: categorically eligible and those that are not. Categorically eligible projects are those that are clearly eligible for Green Project Reserve, which include:

• Green streets, wet weather management systems for parking areas, street tree or urban forestry program, downspout disconnection, retrofit program to keep wet weather out of sewers, restoration of permanent natural features, management to constructed treatment wetlands, preservation of hydrologic processes or acquisition of land or easements benefitting water quality.
• Installing or retrofitting water efficient devices, installing water meters in unmetered areas, replacing existing broken or malfunctioning water meters or upgrading existing meters, retrofitting or adding automatic meter reading capabilities or leak detection equipment to existing meters, water audit and water conservation plans, recycling and water reuse projects or retrofit or replacement of certain existing irrigation systems. 
• Renewable energy projects (wind, solar, geothermal, etc.) that provide power to a publicly owned treatment works, achieving a 20% reduction in energy consumption, collection system infiltration and inflow detection equipment or publicly owned treatment works energy management planning that reasonably result in a capital project. 
• Integrated water resources management planning likely to result in a capital project, utility sustainability plan, greenhouse gas inventory or mitigation plan, planning activities by a publicly owned treatment works to prepare for adoption to weather resiliency, construction or renovation of publicly owned treatment works facilities to U.S. Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, or decentralized wastewater treatment solutions to existing deficient or failing onsite wastewater systems.

An applicant must provide clear documentation for projects that are not categorically eligible.

EPA provides the following documents to help states determine eligible projects:

• GPR Project Eligibility Guidance
• GPR Cross Walk Table