State Revolving Fund Program (SRF)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Tennessee more than $77 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for clean water and drinking water projects across the state. The ARRA funding will allow the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to make a combination of low-interest loans and grants to Tennessee communities through the State Revolving Fund loan program for infrastructure improvements to wastewater and drinking water systems.

Tennessee received $56,930,400 from EPA for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to fund planning, design and construction of wastewater facilities and $20,238,000 for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to fund planning, design and construction of drinking water facilities. By leveraging Recovery Act funds with existing SRF loan funding, Environment and Conservation will be providing 40 percent of the funding communities receive as principle forgiveness that does not need to be repaid. The remaining 60 percent will be in the form of a low-interest loan. The debt forgiveness or grant provision is a requirement of the Recovery Act and was made possible by the Tennessee General Assembly’s passage of HB2294. 

The Tennessee Local Development Authority will approve completed application packages prior to recipients receiving funding.

There are extensive reporting requirements for ARRA in addition to the requirements of the State Revolving Fund program. Additionally, all ARRA funds through the SRF program must be obligated by Feb. 17, 2010, and utilities, water authorities or communities must have a signed construction contract or must have begun construction by the same date.

Nov. 12 – Gov. Bredesen announced a $5 million low-interest loan for the city of Crossville in Cumberland County for a drinking water construction project funded through a combination of ARRA and the State Revolving Fund loan program. Forty percent of the funding is in the form of principal forgiveness, which does not have to be repaid.  This award represents the final project to be awarded Recovery Act funding through the State Revolving Fund in Tennessee. Click here to learn more about this project.

Oct. 26 – Gov. Bredesen announced that seven communities, two water authorities and one utility district have been approved to receive low-interest loans for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements.  The funding comes from a combination of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the State Revolving Fund Loan Program.  Forty percent of the funding is in the form of principal forgiveness, which does not have to be repaid. Click here to learn more about Tennessee communities benefitting from these Recovery Act funds.

Sept. 15 -  Gov. Bredesen announced 10 small drinking water systems will receive Drinking Water Mentoring Initiative grants funded by the Recovery Act for free training materials and $15,100 in salary support to help these systems hire and train the next generation of drinking water professionals in Tennessee. Click here to learn more about Recovery Act funding for the Drinking Water Mentoring Initiative in Tennessee.

Sept. 3 - Nine communities and two utility districts have been approved to receive low-interest loans for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements with combined funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the State Revolving Fund Loan Program. Click here to learn more about Tennessee communities benefitting from these Recovery Act funds.

Aug. 12 - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is providing $200,000 to help Tennessee drinking water systems hire and train the next generation of drinking water professionals in Tennessee. The Drinking Water Mentoring Initiative will provide up to 10 one-year grants to drinking water systems serving fewer than 10,000 people in counties with an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent. Click here to view list of these drinking water systems as of July 2009.

The funding for the Drinking Water Mentoring Initiative comes from the Fleming Training Center, which receives two percent of the federal funding granted to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.  In 2009, the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund received approximately $20 million in Recovery Act funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  Under the Mentoring Initiative, the state will use a portion of the Fleming Training Center Recovery Act funding to offer free training, materials and $15,100 in salary support for small water systems across Tennessee.  All training classes will be held at the Fleming Training Center, which is operated by the Department of Environment and Conservation and provides water and wastewater training, certification and technical assistance to water and wastewater systems across the state. Click here for more information about these training grants for small drinking water systems.

Aug. 5 - Ten communities and three utility districts have been approved to receive low-interest loans for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements with combined funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the State Revolving Fund Loan Program. Click here to learn more about Tennessee communities benefiting from these Recovery Act funds.

Click here for Draft Intended Use Plans and Priority Ranking Lists of Clean Water and Drinking Water SRF Loan Programs under Recovery Act.

Click here for SRF Projects scheduled for presentation to the Tennessee Local Development Agency Board on 08-05-09 (tentative list as of 07-14-09).

In addition, the state will receive $575,100 to implement water quality management planning projects. These projects include grants to three Tennessee development districts to conduct green infrastructure needs analysis for communities to use in future State Revolving Fund efforts. Click here for this department work plan under the Recovery Act.

 

  Implementation

Click here to learn more about legislative action enabling debt forgiveness provision in Tennessee's State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan program as required by ARRA.

 

  Documents and Reports

Tennessee State Revolving Loan Fund Intended Use Plan for ARRA Grant Monies