Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Grant: Small, Underserved, and Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program

Program Purpose of Funding
To help public water systems in small, underserved, and disadvantaged communities meet and comply with SDWA drinking water regulations by providing funding for drinking water projects and activities.Filling a glass with water from a faucet

Application Deadline
Rolling

Source of Funding
Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Statutory Citation
N/A

Who is Eligible
Projects resulting from SUDC grant funding must take place in a community that is underserved, small and disadvantaged, as defined by SDWA 1459A.

A community is considered ‘underserved’ when it meets at least one of the following criteria:

  • The community does not have household drinking water or wastewater services.
  • The community is served by a public water system that violates or exceeds any Maximum Contaminant Level, treatment technique, or action level.

A community is considered ‘small and disadvantaged’ when it meets at least one of the following criteria:

  • The respective state’s affordability criteria determines that the community is disadvantaged or may become disadvantaged.
  • The community has a population of less than 10,000 individuals and does not have the capacity to incur debt sufficient to finance a project or activity.

Qualifications Required for Consideration
In addition to taking place in a qualifying community, grant funding must be used on projects that will help the community meet and comply with SDWA regulations through infrastructure work, technical, managerial, and financial capacity building activities, or activities necessary for a state to respond to a contaminant.

Examples of qualifying project activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Treatment
  • Transmission and Distribution
  • Source
  • Storage
  • Creation of new systems
  • Consolidation
  • Household water quality testing, including for unregulated contaminants
  • Providing households access to drinking water services
  • Assistance to increase technical, managerial, and financial capacity
  • Drinking water contamination response efforts.

More information on eligible activities can be found in the SUDC Implementation document.

Grant Limitations
It is anticipated that project/budget periods will be no more than three years.

Application Procedures
NJDEP selects systems based on EPA’s Enforcement Targeting Tool (ETT) and compliance history. Systems are not required to fill out a application.

Additional Information 
N/A

For More Information or to Request an Application, Contact
Sabrina Hill
sabrina.hill@njdepwptest.net