Useful Links

Tennessee Association of Utility Districts (TAUD) - TDEC SRF has contracted the Tennessee Association of Utility Districts (TAUD) to provide targeted technical assistance to distressed or disadvantaged communities. TAUD has been tasked to focus on technical assistance needs for both public water and wastewater systems; managerial, financial, and technical capacities for systems; assist in reducing the occurrence of health-based drinking water violations; optimize resources and support to small and disadvantaged communities and systems across the state; develop new capacity to make full use of Federal Capitalization Grant set-asides for drinking water; and implement priorities under TNH2O. Technical assistance is provided at no cost to eligible communities.

USEPA Drinking Water SRF Program- The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program is a federal-state partnership to help ensure safe drinking water. Created by the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) the program provides financial support to water systems and to state safe water programs.

USEPA Clean Water SRF Program- The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program is a federal-state partnership that provides communities a permanent, independent source of low-cost financing for a wide range of water quality infrastructure projects.

Tennessee Local Development Authority (TLDA)- The TLDA is delegated the responsibility for issuing bonds and notes to provide funds to make loans to (1) local governments for water, sewer and solid waste resource recovery facilities; (2) certain small business concerns for pollution control facilities; (3) local government units for capital projects; (4) farmers for certain capital improvements; (5) counties for the acquisition of equipment for use by county or volunteer fire departments serving unincorporated areas; (6) airport authorities and municipal airports; (7) mental health/mental retardation and drug facilities; and (8) to reimburse reasonable and safe cleanup of petroleum sites.

Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina (UNC EFC) - The UNC EFC offers free technical support for systems providing drinking water and wastewater services in EPA Region 4. The UNC EFC can help assess financial preparedness (e.g., assessing utility fiscal health, assistance with rate-setting, assessing affordability, etc.) to make sure your community is ready to apply for and successfully manage new funds. This technical support is community-driven, designed to cater to each community's unique needs.

SRF Resources and Process Updates

Ability To Pay Index- Clean affordable drinking water and wastewater systems are critical for people in communities large and small. Developing and maintaining this critical infrastructure can be costly. So how do small and financially distressed communities afford updates to, and maintenance of their water and wastewater infrastructure? Many of these communities utilize funds provided by the State through the State Revolving Loan (SRF) fund program. In turn, SRF evaluates each community’s unique circumstances to determine their ability to pay back these loans, and if, and when a community should be granted principal forgiveness.

In 2019 TDEC decided to update our process of community evaluation and improve the method we use, called the Ability To Pay Index (ATPI). The SRF program began work with researchers at the University of TN to help us understand what affordability means for each unique TN community and how a unique community’s needs can be addressed based on what they can afford.

Want to know more? Frequent our SRF website for ATPI updates, links to current presentations, or access recent news articles on this topic.