Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 33 - Public Health - Local Governments And Rural Water Systems Improvements Board › Part 11 - Drinking Water Systems Improvements Revolving Loan Fund Program Regulations › Section 33-11-I - Introduction

Current through June 25, 2024
A.
State of Mississippi's Drinking
			 Water State Revolving Loan Fund
The Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 (SDWA)
				established the national Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Program.
				That program allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make
				capitalization (Cap) grants to states to, in turn, provide low cost loans to
				public water systems to help achieve or maintain compliance with SDWA
				requirements. Accordingly, the State Legislature (through Section
				41-3-16,
				MS Code of 1972 Annotated) created what is now called the Drinking Water
				Systems Improvements Revolving Loan Fund (DWSIRLF) Program, to receive the
				federal DWSRF capitalization grants from EPA, and to provide low cost loans to
				the state's public water systems to finance needed infrastructure improvements.
				This legislation also allows the DWSIRLF, subject to the authority of State
				Law, to make loans that may utilize additional subsidization beyond standard
				DWSIRLF loans as well as setting appropriate criteria to determine eligible
				recipients.
That same legislation created the "Local Governments and Rural
				Water Systems Improvements Board" (Board), to oversee the administration of the
				DWSIRLF Program. The Mississippi State Department of Health (Department), as
				the state's drinking water primacy agency, supplies the staff and facilities
				necessary to administer the program. The Board is composed of the following
				nine (9) members: the State Health Officer, who shall serve as chairman of the
				Board; the Executive Director of the Mississippi Development Authority; the
				Executive Director of the Department of Environmental Quality; the Executive
				Director of the Department of Finance and Administration; the Executive
				Director of the Mississippi Association of Supervisors; the Executive Director
				of the Mississippi Municipal League; the Executive Director of the American
				Council of Engineering Companies; the State Director of the United States
				Department of Agriculture, Rural Development; and a manager of a rural water
				system. Each agency director may appoint a designee to serve in his or her
				place on the Board. The rural water system manager is appointed by the
				Governor. In the creation of the Program it was the intent of the Legislature
				that the Board endeavor to ensure that the costs of administering the DWSIRLF
				Program are as low as possible in order to provide the water consumers of
				Mississippi with safe drinking water at affordable prices.
As a condition of receiving the DWSRF Cap grants, the SDWA
				requires that each state annually prepare an Intended Use Plan (IUP) designed
				to outline how a state will utilize DWSRF funds to assist in protecting public
				health. The DWSIRLF Fund consists of both state and federal funds. Federal
				funds are provided to the states in the form of awarded Cap grants. Each
				state's allotment of those grants is based on EPA's Needs Survey that is
				performed every four years. State matching funds totaling 20% of the federal
				grant amount to that state are required to be deposited into the Fund and have
				historically been provided through the issuance of bonds; however, in 2014 the
				State legislature began providing the required State match funds as a direct
				agency appropriation. The purpose of this IUP is to convey the State of
				Mississippi's (State) DWSRF plan for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2019 to EPA,
				other state agencies, the state's public water supplies, and the general
				public.
B.
Program
			 Overview
The basic framework under which the DWSIRLF Program operates is
				established by two documents. The first document is the Drinking Water State
				Revolving Fund Loan Program Operating Agreement (Operating Agreement) between
				the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Environmental Protection
				Agency, Region IV. The current Operating Agreement was agreed to by both
				parties and approved on February 3, 2009. The Operating Agreement establishes
				the basic framework of the DWSIRLF that is not expected to change from
				year-to-year. The second document is the IUP which describes how the State of
				Mississippi will use the funding received from the EPA Cap grant which is
				received each year.
The FFY-2019 DWSRF Cap grant application will request an amount
				of $11,985,000, the amount allocated to the State of Mississippi. These funds
				must be used in the time period of July 2019 through June 2024. The FFY-2019
				IUP will show in detail the goals (basic, long-term and short-term), the
				structure, and the financial status of the Program; the role of the set-aside
				activities within the state; and most importantly, the distribution of funds
				towards public water system improvements projects and the criteria used to
				determine their ranking within the priority system. Those desiring to receive a
				copy of this document may contact Ulysses Conley, Program Support Specialist,
				at (601) 576-7518.
The United Stated Congress passed the
America's Water
				Infrastructure Act of 2018
which was signed by the President on
				October 23, 2018. This Act authorizes increased funding of the DWSRF through
				FFY-2021. This act approves the following:
1. Extends the maximum loan amortization to
			 30 years, or 40 years for disadvantaged communities. These maximums may not,
			 however exceed the design life of the project;
2. Extends repayment initiation to 18 months
			 after project completion;
3.
			 Codifies Davis-Bacon for DWSRF-funded construction projects;
4. Makes American Iron and Steel requirements
			 "permanent" until 2023;
5. States
			 that additional subsidy for state-defined Disadvantaged Communities must be
			 between 6% and 35% of CAP grant (if enough Disadvantaged Communities qualify),
			 up from the current rate of 0% to 30%.