Public Water Systems Receive Water Supply Protection Grants

The Baker-Polito Administration has awarded $1,025,470 to five Massachusetts municipalities through the Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant Program. Since 2004, the program has provided funds to eligible Public Water Systems to purchase land and conservation restrictions for water supply protection.  Information about the grant program is posted at https://www.mass.gov/service-details/drinking-water-supply-protection-grant-program.

Congratulations to the following Public Water Systems for receiving funding in the FY22 grant round.

• Town of Yarmouth – Higgins Crowell Road Project: $300,000 to purchase ten parcels for a total of 9.66 acres adjacent to a 107-acre parcel owned by the town for well and drinking water supply protection.
• Fitchburg Division of Water Supply – Kerlinger Conservation Restriction Project: $140,370 grant award to preserve a 49.43-acre parcel that will extend protection for Fitchburg’s watershed lands and will serve to extend established recreational trails on adjacent land.
• Fall River Department of Community Utilities – Copicut Reservoir Watershed Protection Project: $121,750 grant award to acquire 16 acres of woodland to provide an additional buffer to the Copicut Reservoir.
• Southampton Water Commission – Pomeroy Meadow Protection Project: $213,350 grant award to preserve 76 acres of forested land to protect the town’s critical drinking water source. This project will also serve as a catalyst for preserving adjacent land.
• City of Haverhill – Meserve Woods Conservation Restriction Project: $250,000 grant award to preserve 54 acres of critical watershed land near Crystal Lake Reservoir, Haverhill’s primary drinking water system.

Gap III Energy Grant Funding

Is your water utility ready to make clean energy or efficiency upgrades? The Gap III Energy Grant application period is open now!  The program is designed to fill the last “gap” in project financing as facilities utilize utility incentives and other sources to build on and install selected energy efficiency and clean energy projects. The program will make available up to $5 million to municipal drinking water and wastewater facilities. The past two rounds of Gap grants helped 64 drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities increase operational efficiencies, while also saving more than $2.5 million in energy costs and producing more than 24,000 megawatt-hours in electricity savings from efficiency and on-site renewable power generation. These projects reduced carbon emissions by nearly 18,000 metric tons each year.

Visit MassDEP’s Gap Energy Grant Program webpage for application requirements and information on how to apply. The application deadline for drinking water and wastewater facilities is Friday, July 15, 2022 at 5:00 PM. If you’re ready to apply, don’t forget to pre-register by completing the following form: https://massgov.formstack.com/forms/2022gapgrantpreregister.

2021 Community Water Fluoridation 50 Year Awards

Six Massachusetts cities/towns have been recognized with the 2021 Community Water Fluoridation 50 Year Award.  This award is given jointly to recognize public water systems that have consistently adjusted the fluoride concentration in drinking water for the past 50 years, starting in 1971. 

Congratulations to:

• Haverhill
• Ipswich
• Lincoln
• Needham
• North Reading
• Southbridge

Notification letters were just emailed to the impacted water departments with copy to the health departments.  

NEIWPCC’s Source Water Protection Toolkit

Please Reply to Survey Re:  Source Water Protection Handbook for Municipal Officials

MassDEP’s Drinking Water Program is a member of the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC)’s Source Water Protection Work Group.  NEIWPCC is in the process of updating the Source Water Protection Toolkit for municipal officials, initially published in 2004. The goal is to update the Toolkit to best serve as a resource for municipal water professionals, officials, and community volunteers interested in protecting local drinking water supplies.

Your feedback is essential and appreciated to help make the Toolkit as useful as possible for local source water protection partners.  Please click on this link https://forms.gle/VkM5qU8DdvggRRTd9 to take the survey by Friday, July 8^th.

For information on the original 2004 Toolkit, a recently updated webpage about its contents is available on NEIWPCC’s website: https://neiwpcc.org/our-programs/gwswp/source-water-protection-municipalities/. 

Please contact Lynn Porta of NEIWPCC at lporta@neiwpcc.org with questions about the survey or to provide additional feedback.

Thank you for your help! 

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is pleased to announce that the State Revolving Fund (SRF) Project Solicitation period for new drinking water (DWSRF) and clean water (CWSRF) projects seeking SRF financing is now open. MassDEP’s Division of Municipal Services will accept Project Evaluation Forms (PEFs) for construction projects and asset management planning for the 2023 round of financing until 12:00 PM August 12, 2022.  To apply please visit MassDEP’s web site at: https://www.mass.gov/lists/state-revolving-fund-applications-forms

Open Solicitation – A Project Evaluation Form will not be necessary to apply for the following projects:

·       Planning Projects - To better meet the needs of our communities, MassDEP will maintain an open project solicitation during calendar year 2023 for Clean Water and Drinking Water SRF planning projects.  Upon publication of the Final 2023 Intended Use Plans (IUPs), MassDEP will start accepting loan applications on a rolling basis. 

·       PFAS Design Projects – To assist public water suppliers (PWS) impacted with PFAS concentrations in their systems, funding will be available to finance the design phase of projects. Upon publication of the Final 2023 DWSRF IUP, MassDEP will accept, on a rolling basis, loan applications for the design phase of PFAS remediation projects.

LSL planning loans with 100% loan forgiveness - MassDEP is now accepting Loan Applications to complete lead service line inventories and replacement programs.EPA is currently seeking input to inform potential regulatory revisions of eight National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) included in Microbial and Disinfection Byproducts (MDBP) rules. The MDBP rules were identified as candidates for revision as part of the latest Six-Year Review of all of the NPDWRs.

As part of the potential regulatory revisions effort, EPA has requested that the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC), a Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) established under the Safe Drinking Water Act, provide the agency with advice and recommendations on key issues related to potential revisions to MDBP rules. The work of the NDWAC will be supported by an MDBP Rule Revisions Working Group. To read EPA’s charge to the NDWAC and learn more about the Working Group, visit NDWAC MDBP Rule Revisions Working Group website. The Working Group will meet on August 17, 2022 from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time. The August 17 meeting is intended to include a discussion of the current regulatory landscape for the Surface Water Treatment Rules (SWTRs); an inventory of public water systems subject to the SWTRs; and a characterization of problems related to opportunistic pathogens. Future meetings are tentatively planned for September 20, November 3, and December 13, 2022.

Registration for members of the public to listen to the August 17, 2022, virtual meeting is now available at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ndwac-mdbp-rules-revision-working-group-meeting-2-tickets-368412270017?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch. You will receive a confirmation email upon successful registration and a link to the meeting will be emailed to you no later than August 16, 2022, which will be hosted through Zoom for Government. Please note that the link and webinar information provided will be unique to the August 17, 2022 meeting. The agenda will be posted prior to the meeting to the NDWAC MDBP Rule Revisions Working Group website.

For any questions, please contact MDBPRevisions@epa.gov.

MassDEP Conference Calls

MassDEP’s Commissioner Suuberg holds quarterly meetings to discuss pertinent water supply topics.  The link to MassDEP’s webpage, where recordings of Commissioner Suuberg’s calls with the operators as well as FAQs for both water supply and wastewater are published is: https://www.mass.gov/lists/covid-19-information-for-drinking-water-and-wastewater-operators.​ 

The next call with Commissioner Suuberg is scheduled for Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 2:00 PM.  Note:  Please email all drinking water questions to MassDEP at program.director-dwp@mass.gov.  

Join Zoom Meeting          https://zoom.us/j/550814507          Meeting ID: 550 814 507

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Meeting ID: 550 814 507

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/anAJCjR7G

Training Calendar

When you need training, please look at the training calendar located at: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/massdep/water/drinking/drinking-water-training-class-schedules.html.

Board of Certification Training Page and List of Approved Courses

You may also want to go to the Board of Certification of Operators of Drinking Water Supply Facilities Operators training page and view the approved education courses to sit for examination.  Go to: https://www.mass.gov/doc/drinking-water-board-approved-education-courses-updated-september-2020/download.

Some Newly Added Trainings on the Calendar

• MassDEP

Previous Cybersecurity Trainings now on YouTube:

o    Basic Cybersecurity Measures for Water Utilities: https://youtu.be/78v3eAyf1yE

o    Ransomware Experiences, Defense, and Response: https://youtu.be/eisIsdQnXqE

• Environmental Finance Center Network

For a complete list of trainings webinars and in-person trainings please go to: https://efcnetwork.org/upcoming-events/

• EPA

For a complete list of trainings, webinars and in-person trainings, please go to:

https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/drinking-water-training.

• Mass Rural Water Association

For a complete list of trainings, webinars and in-person trainings, please go to:  https://www.massrwa.org/p/14/Trainings—Events.

• MWWA

For a complete list of trainings, webinars and in-person trainings, please go to:

MWWA Calendar

• NEWWA

For a complete list of trainings, webinars and in-person trainings, please go to: https://communityhub.newwa.org/nc__upcomingevents.

• Water ISAC

For a complete list of trainings, webinars and in-person trainings, please go to:

https://www.waterisac.org/resources.

• RCAP Solutions

For a complete list of trainings, webinars and in-person trainings, please go to:  http://www.rcapsolutions.org/community-resources-events/.

• AWWA

For a complete list of trainings, webinars and in-person trainings, please go to:  https://www.awwa.org/Events-Education/Events-Calendar?utm_term=AWWA+Connections+10-8-2021&utm_content=Connections+10-8-2021&utm_source=communications&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=connections.

Training Refresher

If you need a refresher on recently given trainings, you can review several training videos located at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJn2AKOcYr7lutGJB-UfDKtQPF_o_249m