Eligible Projects

(1) Any water pollution abatement project, as defined in 310 CMR 44.03, is eligible to receive financial assistance from the Trust pursuant to 310 CMR 44.00. More specifically, eligible projects fall into the following categories: (a) Wastewater Treatment Projects, as defined in 310 CMR 44.03; (b) Infiltration Inflow (I/I) Projects, as defined in 310 CMR 44.03; (c) Collection System Projects, as defined in 310 CMR 44.03, provided, however, that at least 85% of the expected wastewater flow into the proposed collection system will be for wastewater flows in existence as of July 1, 1995, except, subject to the approval of the Department, in areas designated as city or town centers, rural village districts, or brownfields redevelopment areas, areas designated under M.G.L. c. 40R as "smart growth districts" or projects in Growth Districts designated by the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development with the concurrence of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs; (d) Nonpoint Source Projects, as defined in 310 CMR 44.03, including but not limited to projects financed under the Community Septic Management Program within the Fund to assist eligible homeowners to upgrade failed septic systems in compliance with 310 CMR 15.000: The State Environmental Code, Title 5: Standard Requirements for the Siting, Construction, Inspection, Upgrade and Expansion of On-site Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems and for the Transport and Disposal of Septage through underlying betterment agreements between a Local Governmental Unit and such homeowners; (e) The planning and/or design for any one of the project categories identified in 310 CMR 44.04(1)(a) through (d), including but not limited to comprehensive wastewater management planning under 310 CMR 44.09(2) and (3) and planning projects which implement the Nonpoint Source Management Plan, as developed and updated by the Department pursuant to § 319 of the CWA, provided that the total funding allocated for planning and/or design projects shall not exceed 10% of the total financial assistance authorized on the calendar year Intended Use Plan Project Listing portion of the priority list. The Department may modify the allocation of funds consistent with its identification of planning and/or design projects as a funding priority in a particular calendar year pursuant to 310 CMR 44.06(3); (f) Any project in the categories identified in 310 CMR 44.04(1)(a) through (d) which utilizes a single contractor to design, build and/or operate the project facilities, provided the procurement and use of such contractor is authorized by law, the project conforms with the state constitutional requirements governing the use of Commonwealth funds for public purposes, and the project otherwise meets the requirements of 310 CMR 44.00. The operational costs of such projects shall be ineligible for SRF assistance; (g) Projects for the development and implementation of a conservation and management plan under § 320 of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1330; (h) The construction, repair, or replacement of publicly- or privately-owned decentralized wastewater treatment systems that treat municipal wastewater or domestic sewage; (i) Publicly and privately owned, permitted and unpermitted projects that manage, reduce, treat, or recapture stormwater or subsurface drainage water; (j) Projects that reduce the demand for POTW capacity through water conservation, efficiency, or reuse, regardless of whether the activity takes place at publicly or privately owned properties; (k) Projects that develop and implement a watershed pilot project related to at least one of the six areas identified in § 122 of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1274: watershed management of wet weather discharges, stormwater best management practices, watershed partnerships, integrated water resource planning, municipality-wide stormwater management planning, or increased resilience of treatment works; (l) Projects that reduce energy consumption needs for POTWs and related planning activities, such as energy audits and optimization studies; (m) Projects that include the equipment and piping required to reuse or recycle wastewater, stormwater, or subsurface drainage water; (n) Projects that provide financial assistance to any qualified nonprofit entity to provide assistance to small- and medium-sized POTWs for training activities, planning, design, and associated preconstruction activities and to assist POTWs in achieving compliance with the CWA. Ongoing operation and maintenance activities are not eligible; (o) Acquisition of land that is an integral part of the treatment system (e.g., land for spray irrigation or subsurface disposal) and that is necessary for construction of POTWs, including surface and subsurface easements, a place to store equipment and material during construction, land needed to locate eligible projects (e.g., pumping stations), and land integral to the treatment process; (p) Projects that increase the security of POTWs; and (q) Projects that use regional water resources to offset, by at least 100%, the impact of water withdrawals on local water resources in the watershed basin of the receiving community.