Funding to support water and wastewater projects can be confusing to navigate. It is generally provided by a variety of agencies in a state. Some states have made an effort to consolidate funding entities and partner agencies to provide a singular point of contact for assistance to communities in their region. In this blog series, you will learn about some of the existing Water Advisory Committees in the country, what they are, who they bring together, how they operate, and what assistance they provide to their state. In this blog, we will give an overview of Delaware’s Water Infrastructure Advisory Council.
Photo Credit: Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) logo
What is it?
The Water Infrastructure Advisory Council (WIAC) initiates, develops, and recommends to the Delaware General Assembly projects for the planning, construction, repair, renovation, or expansion of drinking water and wastewater facilities. Funding also covers maintenance programs related to drainage, stormwater management, and flood control. The WIAC is administered by the Environmental Finance Office within the Department of Natural Resources Environmental Control (DNREC) and works in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS). DNREC and DHSS accept notices of intent (NOIs) and create a project priority list (PPL) for the WIAC.
Funding managed by the WIAC comes from the Delaware Drinking Water and Water Pollution Control Revolving Funds, commonly known as State Revolving Funds. The Funds provide low-interest loans and grants for projects that will improve water quality. They consist of federal seed grants and matching state funds. Loan repayments provide a continuing source of funds for additional projects. Eligible entities include municipalities, private organizations, nonprofit organizations, and private individuals.
Committee Members
The WIAC has nine voting members and three non-voting members. Representation on the committee includes the nonprofit, private, and public sectors, as well as a range of professional expertise including engineering, law, finance, and environmental conservation.
Meetings
Meetings of the full council are generally held quarterly on Wednesdays, from 9 a.m. to noon. Meetings are hybrid, meaning they can be attended in person or virtually via a Zoom link, and are open to the public. Meetings are listed on DNREC’s Calendar of Events. Interested parties will want to subscribe to the DNREC Office of the Secretary’s public meeting calendar to be sure to know when meetings are planned.
In addition to the WIAC, there are four subcommittees (drinking water, wastewater, surface water, and finance) that typically meet on a quarterly basis. The subcommittee meetings are also posted on DNREC’s Calendar of Events.
How to Receive Assistance
The funding process starts each year in January with an invitation for applicants to submit NOIs for eligible projects for which they would like to receive funding. DNREC and DHSS accept these NOIs and create draft PPLs based on submissions. Next, the WIAC holds a public hearing on the draft PPLs and adopts a final list after public review and comment. That list is used to award funding during the fiscal year, which runs from July 1st to June 30th.
A second invitation to submit NOIs is sent out each summer to allow the PPL to be updated, if needed. The revised PPL is adopted by the WIAC using the same public review process.
After the PPL is adopted, those applicants whose projects are selected will be contacted to submit a loan or grant application.
Point of Contact
The WIAC is administered by the Environmental Finance Office, within the DNREC Office of the Secretary. Contact information is available on their website.
In Summary
In Delaware, most drinking water and wastewater infrastructure project funding requests are reviewed and approved by the WIAC. The application process has been streamlined so that applicants only need to complete an NOI to get the process started. This eliminates the need to complete a Preliminary Engineering Report, Environmental Information Document, or other resource intensive process until funding for a project is secured, significantly reducing the local burden to have their projects considered.