Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE INTENDED USE PLAN Funding Cycle 2011 Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona 2011 Technical Assistance Intended Use Plan The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA) is pleased to present the Technical Assistance (TA) Intended Use Plan for Funding Cycle 2011. WIFA plans to continue to implement three types of technical assistance during Technical Assistance Funding Cycle 2011: ƒ Project Technical Assistance – Planning and Design Assistance Grants assist an individual drinking water or wastewater system to conceive, plan, design, or develop an infrastructure project. ƒ Policy Technical Assistance – Policy TA includes studies, surveys and other types of reports that provide benefit to a range of drinking water and wastewater systems statewide. ƒ Operational Technical Assistance – The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) manages this program to provide assistance to individual drinking water and wastewater systems to improve facility operations. WIFA intends to allocate $965,000 for the three types of Technical Assistance for Funding Cycle 2011. As shown in Table 1 below, WIFA intends to allocate $857,500 for Drinking Water technical assistance and $107,500 for Clean Water technical assistance. Table 1: Funding Sources and Uses. A description of each use is provided below the table. Funding Sources 15% 2% Set‐aside Set‐aside Funding Uses Drinking Water: $857,500 Project Assistance Planning and Design Assistance Grants Policy Assistance Drinking Water Needs Survey Asset Management Plans for Medium Systems Sustainability Assessment Drinking Water Residential Rate Survey Operational Assistance Technical Assistance for Small Systems Clean Water: $107,500 Project Assistance Planning and Design Assistance Grants Policy Assistance Wastewater Residential Rate Survey Totals Fees $300,000 $100,000 $50,000 $100,000 $7,500 $300,000 $100,000 $557,500 $300,000 $7,500 $107,500 Project Technical Assistance Planning and Design Assistance Grants WIFA solicits grant applications from Arizona’s political subdivisions, community water systems and Indian communities as designated by the federal Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts. The purpose of WIFA’s Planning and Design Grant Program is to help prepare water and 1 wastewater facilities for future infrastructure project construction. Typically, awards are made to facilities with limited resources that need assistance in completing the planning and/or design phase of an infrastructure project. WIFA has also placed high priority on projects that improve water or energy efficiency. Awards are capped at $35,000 per project. To allow more opportunities for funding, WIFA will offer two grant cycles for Drinking Water funding in the spring (in progress) and in the fall. Clean Water grant funding is available only for the spring grant cycle. A list of projects proposed for award will be provided to the Board for each grant cycle, at the June and December board meetings. The Request for Grant Applications issued for each grant cycle establishes the scoring criteria on which the applications are evaluated. Policy Technical Assistance Drinking Water Needs Survey This survey is a nationwide survey required by EPA and conducted by the states every four years. The purpose of the survey is to document the 20-year capital investment needs of public water systems that are eligible to receive Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) monies. The survey reports infrastructure needs that are required to protect public health, such as projects to ensure compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. EPA uses the results of the survey to determine the allocation of annual DWSRF dollars to the states and tribes. Asset Management Plans for Medium Systems WIFA has identified a need for asset management planning in medium-sized drinking water systems (serving approximately 10,000 – 50,000 people). Asset management is a planning process used to obtain the most value from a utility’s assets and to ensure the utility has the financial resources to rehabilitate and replace them when necessary. Asset management plans are used to make timely maintenance, rehabilitation, replacement, rate-setting, financial planning, and other decisions. WIFA will continue to provide funding for asset management-related assistance for small systems through ADEQ’s Capacity Development Program. Sustainability Assessment The Arizona Department of Water Resources will interpret and evaluate water resource vulnerability and sustainability conditions in Arizona using extensive data and water resource information to answer the primary question: “Which Arizona communities have enough water?” This effort is intended to support and improve better water planning and management decisions at the state, regional and local level in order to reduce system vulnerability and support development of sustainable water supplies. Throughout the Funding Cycle and as circumstances require, WIFA may fund additional Policy Technical Assistance projects. The Board will act to add Policy Technical Assistance at a Public Meeting of the Board. Operational Technical Assistance Capacity Development Technical Assistance Program The ADEQ Water Quality Division, Drinking Water Section, offers the Capacity Development Technical Assistance Program to small public water systems to provide system evaluations and onsite technical assistance at no cost to the system owner. The assistance is targeted to maintain and improve technical, managerial, financial, security and energy usage components of drinking water facility operations. 2 Eligible systems may request a System Evaluation, an Energy Audit, or an Operations & Maintenance Package (includes Site Sampling Plan, System Schematic, Emergency Operation Plan, Operations and Maintenance Plan and Vulnerability Assessment) that will be conducted by thirdparty state-approved contractors. Public Review and Comment The public comment period was conducted May 21, 2010 through June 9, 2010. No comments were received. 3