Committee hears stormwater eligibility limits and a plea from cities for wastewater grant support

The committee heard two related but distinct funding topics: stormwater treatment/eligibility and municipal wastewater funding pressures.

Stormwater: Aaron Carranza (DWR regulatory division) and Duane Poole (DWR planning and education) summarized the stormwater study requested in prior legislation and placed stormwater in the National Flood Insurance Program and DWR cost-share context. They said FEMA does not direct how communities must manage stormwater and that NFIP insurance requirements attach to federally backed mortgages in mapped flood zones. DWR's cost-share policy treats most urban stormwater as ineligible; DWR will participate where runoff from rural areas conveys through urban systems and in parts of major flood-control projects where stormwater infrastructure continuity must be preserved (DWR examples show roughly 22–23% of flood-control project costs may relate to stormwater system fixes).

Wastewater: Matt Gardner (League of Cities) told the committee that most municipal wastewater projects rely on state revolving fund (SRF) low-interest loans and that grant funding is limited. He said 355 cities exist in the state, most small, and cited a Mandan mechanical-plant upgrade estimated at $110 million that could raise monthly wastewater bills by an estimated $72–78 per connection. Gardner said communities need additional tools — grants or enhanced cost-share — to avoid very large rate increases and urged the committee to explore potential state support mechanisms for wastewater upgrades and lagoon decertification costs.

Members asked DWR and cities for more detailed data: city-level reserve practices, examples of projects and their funding mixes, and the scope of backlog needs. DWR noted including urban stormwater broadly in state budgets would be a large ticket item and could shift priorities across the existing buckets for water supply and flood control.