Water Investment Division outlines SRF priority list, flags uncertainty in federal match

Eric, director of engineering in the Water Investment Division, told committee members that staff have compiled a draft priority list of applications for the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs and that the list shows roughly $156 million in construction requests plus several million in planning work.

The draft is a compilation of applicant submissions, not a final ranked list, Eric said. "This list is collection of the applications that come into us, not to receive a loan, but to get on a priority that we have ranked. It's sort of a 2 step process," he said. He described the process as: communities submit applications, the division scores and adopts a priority list, and then communities submit loan applications when ready.

Why it matters: SRF programs provide low-interest construction and planning loans for drinking-water and wastewater infrastructure, and federal capitalization grants typically require a state match. Changes in federal appropriations or earmarks can materially alter how much money the state must provide to access federal dollars.

Officials said the federal picture has shifted from…