Grants

To assist underserved, small and disadvantaged communities with improving their drinking water resources, this program will include approximately $25.8 million in funding. Grants will be awarded as non‐competitive grants to states, with a 10 percent tribal allotment of $2.64 million. The grant program is designed to help public water systems in underserved communities meet and comply with SDWA requirements. The grant program will provide assistance to underserved communities that have no household drinking water or wastewater services or are served by a public water system that violates or exceeds any Maximum Containment Level, treatment technique, or action level.

DEP is offering rebates to Pennsylvania agricultural producers for energy efficiency projects. Applications are being accepted effective September 20, 2021, and rebates are offered on a first-come, first-served basis as long as funding is available, through March 31, 2022.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission is offering a new grant program to project sponsors specifically targeted to support the collection and reporting of water level data in groundwater production wells in the basin.

Grant funding is focused on needs such as purchasing, installing, or maintaining water level monitoring equipment, to provide the appropriate data collection methods to meet the Commission’s requirements to monitor and report operational data. Funding should have the potential to positively impact a project sponsor’s ability to report reliable water level data, develop a valuable resource of operational water level data, prepare for the permit renewal process, and allow informed management of a water system.

Grants may be used for projects that are not currently collecting water level data from their well(s) or may be used to upgrade equipment: to address equipment failure; to achieve better accuracy; to improve efficiency; or to automate water level measurement/recording.

Nearly $175 million in funding is available for fish passage projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. This funding will support projects that reopen migratory pathways and restore access to healthy habitat for fish around the country. 

In collaboration with NOAA, selected partners will use these funds to implement locally-led removals of dams and other in-stream barriers. Selected projects will assist in sustaining our nation’s fisheries and contributing to the recovery of threatened and endangered species. They may also provide community and economic benefits, such as jobs and climate resilience.