Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) funding requirements

• SFY2027 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2026 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2025 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2024 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2023 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2022 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2021 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2020 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2019 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2018 Funding Guidelines
• SFY2017 Funding Guidelines

EPA requires that a Fiscal Sustainability (Asset Management) Plan certification form (in EAGL) be completed before a loan that includes construction is signed. The purpose of the certification form is to determine if a recipient has already completed a plan that meets the requirements or needs to complete one as a deliverable of the project (this is an eligible expense). The requirement is to ensure the recipient has an asset management plan that also considers water and energy conservation. The plan must cover the entire system even if the funded project is only for a project within the system. For more details, please see the funding guidelines.

The project phase and funding will dictate the level of detail and information needed to complete the review.  Ecology must have a determination before ground disturbance occurs or that activity may be ineligible.

CWSRF Equivalency, Emerging Contaminants, and OSG funded projects must complete a report on compliance with specific federal environmental assurances, often referred to by EPA as "cross cutters".

For more information about the State Environmental Review Process (SERP) and links to the Environmental Information document and guidance, please visit our Environmental and cultural review webpage.

Recipients must include the following language in each of their progress reports to “certify” they are aware of and meeting the CWSRF requirements. 

“We verified that we are in compliance with all the requirements as outlined in our funding agreement(s) with the Department of Ecology. This includes but is not limited to: 

• The Davis-Bacon Act, 29 CFR, prevailing wage requirements, certified weekly payroll, etc.
• The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), 40 CFR, Part 33
• The American Iron and Steel Act (Buy American) 
• The Build America Buy America Act (BABA) (equivalency projects only)”

All projects must adhere to the funding source recognition requirements and give credit to all funding sources (i.e. EPA and Ecology). The signage specifications are linked below:

• EPA Enhancing Public Awareness of SRF Assistance Agreements (options available to enhance awareness)
• Guidance for using the EPA seal and logo (how to access EPA logo)
• Ecology Logo – Please consult with your Ecology contact to confirm your project has satisfied its funding recognition requirements, we will then provide you with our logo.

The American Iron and Steel (AIS) provision requires CWSRF recipients to use iron and steel products that are produced in the United States. Recipients are required to maintain AIS documentation from manufacturers that documents where the iron and steel was produced. Waivers may be available for specific projects and equipment. If you think you will need a waiver, let your Ecology project team know and coordinate with Ecology who will submit the waiver request to EPA on the project's behalf. Once waivers are submitted and review by EPA, there is a 15-day public comment period. It's important to plan ahead, waivers can take up to three months to complete.

For more information visit EPA's webpage State Revolving Fund AIS requirement

Commonly the grant and loan program prefers to apply the equivalency designation to projects which begin at the planning or design phase so that the requirements can be incorporated into design and onto construction. The Build America, Buy America Act requires that all of the iron, steel, manufactured products and construction materials used in infrastructure projects (funded with federal funds) are produced in the United States. Each federal funding agency manages any waivers to this requirement. Request for waivers must first be coordinated with Ecology who will submit it to EPA. Once waivers are submitted and review by EPA, there is a 15 day public comment period. It's important to plan ahead, this could take three months to complete. 

For more information visit EPA's Build America, Buy America webpage 

Recipients must ensure the CWSRF requirements are included in the bid specifications and contracts for the project. Below please find the inserts that should be used.

Professional Service Contracts (architecture, engineering, geotech, etc.)

• State Revolving Fund Engineering Services Insert (for service contracts)

Construction

• State Revolving Fund Specification Insert (for contract documents)
• Standard Contract Clauses 
• State Revolving Fund Pre-Selection Insert (for equipment)

CWSRF Equivalency projects must follow federal procurement for any Professional Service Contracts (Architectural and Engineering, geotech, etc.)

Recipients must ensure fair wages for contractors and subcontractors by documenting and paying Davis-Bacon wages. Wage determinations can be found on the U.S. Department of Labor website. Recipients should consult with their Ecology project team to ensure they understand reporting and record-keeping compliance. All projects receiving funding must also comply with state prevailing wage rates. Where conflicts arise between the state prevailing wage rates and Davis-Bacon wages, use the more stringent requirement.

• Davis-Bacon and Related Acts | U.S. Department of Labor - Find information about the Davis-Bacon requirements and resources
• Prevailing Wage (Washington State) - Find state prevailing wage rates information
• Guidance for Davis-Bacon compliance - Ecology’s checklist for tracking compliance

All projects must meet the “6 good faith efforts” for all contracting and subcontracting.

Recipients must make a good faith effort to ensure minority and woman owned or disadvantaged businesses are aware of the funded projects contractor and subcontractor bidding opportunities.  Ecology provides forms that can be used to account for all the contractors and subcontractors being used on the project and whether they are DBE certified.  The recipient will then report in their payment requests on Form “D” in EAGL so Ecology can report to EPA how much federal funds went to DBE eligible businesses.

The following forms are provided by the recipient and filled out by the low-bid contractor:

• DBE Subcontractor Participation form
• DBE Subcontractor Performance form
• DBE Subcontractor Utilization form