Introduction

The federal Clean Water Act amendments of 1987 authorized the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program to finance protection and improvement of water quality. The Massachusetts Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Program is a federal-state partnership that provides below-market-rate financing to assist municipalities in complying with federal and state water quality requirements. The CWSRF Program is jointly administered through the Clean Water Trust by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (Department), the State Treasurer, and the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs pursuant to M.G.L. c. 29C, § 2. Every summer, the Department solicits projects from Massachusetts municipalities and wastewater districts for consideration for subsidized State Revolving Fund (SRF) loans. The current standard subsidy is provided via a 2% interest, 20-year loan, but there are opportunities for some projects to receive 30 year loans, or lower interest rates. The SRF Program continues to emphasize public health needs and watershed management priorities. A major goal is to provide incentives to communities to undertake projects with meaningful water quality and public health benefits and which address the needs of the communities and the watersheds. After evaluating the project requests submitted in response to the annual solicitation, the Department develops a list of projects eligible to receive financial assistance. From this annual list, and on the basis of projects' readiness to proceed and priority rating, the Department assigns projects to a fundable list called the Intended Use Plan Project Listing (IUP). Projects placed on the IUP are eligible to apply for financing in the coming year, with the total cost of all projects on the IUP not to exceed the amount of funding available for that year. To qualify for placement on the IUP, a project must have a high enough ranking, have received a local funding appropriation or be scheduled for funding appropriation by June 30 of th the coming year, and the applicant must be able to file a complete loan application no later than October 15 of the coming year. th