Code of Massachusetts Regulations
310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Title 310 CMR 45.00 - Dep Selection, Approval and Regulation of Drinking Water Projects Receiving Financial Assistance from the State Revolving Fund
Section 45.04 - Eligible Projects

(a) Projects to address or prevent violations of the public health standards in 310 CMR 22.00: Drinking Water and the SDWA, including projects to come into or maintain compliance with MCLs and other requirements for contaminants with acute health effects (e.g., the Surface Water Treatment Rule, the Total Coliform Rule, and nitrate standards) and for contaminants with chronic health effects (e.g., the Lead and Copper Rule and the Disinfection Byproducts Rule), including the costs of system activities determined by the Department to constitute an effective alternative to providing treatment to come into or maintain compliance with 310 CMR 22.00: Drinking Water and the SDWA;

(b) Projects to replace aging infrastructure, if such projects are needed to maintain compliance or further the public health goals and requirements in 310 CMR 22.00: Drinking Water and the SDWA, including projects to rehabilitate or develop sources to replace contaminated sources, install or upgrade treatment or storage facilities, and install or replace transmission and distribution pipes to prevent contamination or improve water pressure to safe levels;

(c) Projects to consolidate and/or restructure a public water system (e.g., to address a system with contaminated water supply or when a system is in noncompliance or lacks adequate technical, managerial and financial capability to maintain compliance);

(d) Land acquisition, but only if the Department determines that such land is integral to a project and necessary to meet or maintain compliance and further the protection of public health (e.g., land needed to locate eligible treatment or distribution projects);

(e) The planning and/or design for any eligible project;

(f) Any eligible project which uses 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 45.00. The operation and maintenance costs of such projects shall be ineligible for DWSRF assistance;

(g) 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;

(h) Projects that are intended to provide public water supply to consumers whose groundwater or public or private wells are impacted by contamination that poses an unacceptable health risk, as determined by the Department;

(i) Innovative water projects that utilize new technology and which improve environmental or treatment quality, reduce costs, increase access and availability of water, conserve water or energy or improve management of drinking water; provided, that the technology has not been commercially deployed, other than as a pilot project, previously in the Commonwealth;

(j) Projects that are necessary to connect an LGU to a facility of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, if the LGU has paid or committed to pay the entry fee; and

(k) Projects that are a direct result of a disaster affecting the service area that is the subject of a declaration of emergency by the Governor.

(a) The construction, rehabilitation or maintenance of dams;

(b) The purchase of water rights, unless the water rights are owned by a public water system that is being purchased by an eligible borrower through consolidation as part of the eligible borrower's capacity development strategy;

(c) Reservoirs, except for finished water reservoirs and those reservoirs that are part of the treatment process and are located on the treatment facility property;

(d) Laboratory fees for monitoring;

(e) Operation and maintenance costs;

(f) Projects needed primarily for fire protection;

(g) Projects for systems which the Department determines lack adequate technical, managerial and financial capability, unless the Department determines that financial assistance from the DWSRF will ensure compliance over the long term;

(h) Projects for systems in significant noncompliance, as determined by the Department, unless the Department determines that the project will enable the system to return to compliance and that the system will maintain an adequate level of technical, managerial and financial capability to maintain compliance; and

(i) Projects primarily intended solely to serve future growth.