State Water Resources Control Board Grants

State Water Resources Control Board

Replacing, Removing, or Upgrading Underground Storage Tanks (RUST) grants are available to assist small business underground storage tank (UST) owners and operators in financing up to 100 percent of the costs necessary to upgrade, remove, or replace project tanks to comply with the requirements of Health and Safety Code section 25284.1, 25292.05, 25292.4, 25292.5, or 41954. Please note that removal-only projects are now eligible for RUST grants. Grants are available for between $3,000 and $70,000 to eligible UST owners/operators. An additional $140,000 in RUST grant moneys above the $70,000 maximum is available for remote public fueling stations for the purpose of removing and replacing a single-walled UST. (See Health and Safety Code § 25299.107(e) for more information.) Eligibility Requirements Grant applicants must be a UST owner and/or operator and meet all of the following requirements: • The applicant is a small business that employs fewer than 20 full-time and part-time employees, is independently owned and operated, and is not dominant in its field of operation; • The grant applicant’s principal office and its officers must be domiciled in California; • The facility where the project tank is located was legally in business retailing gasoline after January 1, 1999. • All of the tanks owned and operated by the grant applicant are subject to compliance with Health and Safety Code chapter 6.7 and implementing regulations; • The facility where the subject tank is located has sold, at retail, less than 900,000 gallons of gasoline annually for each of the two years preceding the submission of the grant application; (Gallonage is based upon taxable sales figures provided to the State Board of Equalization (BOE) on the grant applicant’s BOE 401 GS including Schedule G.) • The grant applicant meets either of the following: The grant applicant is in compliance with Health and Safety Code sections 41954 and 25290.1, 25290.2, 25291, or subdivisions (d) and (e) of section 25292; (The facility must provide a current UST permit, a current Permit to Operate, and proof of EVR compliance as evidence of compliance with the permit compliance requirements.) or   Revised 1/2020 The grant applicant meets the requirements for a waiver from the RUST grant permit compliance requirements. (The project is for removal-only and the grant applicant does not qualify for a RUST loan.)   This is not a reimbursement program. Work cannot begin until you have an agreement executed by the State Water Board.  

State Water Resources Control Board

Replacing, Removing, or Upgrading Underground Storage Tanks (RUST) loans are available to assist small business underground storage tank (UST) owners and operators in financing up to 100 percent of the costs necessary to upgrade, remove, or replace project tanks, including corrective actions, to meet applicable local, state, or federal standards, including, but not limited to, any design, construction, monitoring, operation, or maintenance requirements adopted pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 25284.1, 25292.05, 25292.4, or 41954. Loan Terms Low-interest loans are available for between $10,000 and $750,000, for a term of 10 or 20 years. • Ten-year loans are secured by the Uniform Commercial Code Financing Statement on business assets. • Twenty-year loans are secured by a deed of trust on real estate with adequate equity. • A loan fee of 2 percent must be paid at final loan closing. • Please contact the State Water Board or your local Financial Development Corporation for the current interest rate. Eligibility Requirements Loan applicants must be a UST owner and/or operator and meet all of the following requirements: • The loan applicant is a small business that employs fewer than 500 full-time and part-time employees, is independently owned and operated, and is not dominant in its field of operation; • The loan applicant’s principal office and its officers must be domiciled in California; • All of the tanks owned and operated by the loan applicant are subject to compliance with Health and Safety Code chapter 6.7 and the regulation adopted pursuant to that chapter; • The loan applicant must provide financial and legal documents necessary to demonstrate the ability to repay the loan and availability of adequate collateral to secure the loan; and Revised 8/2020 • The loan applicant must have complied, or will comply, with the financial responsibility requirements specified in Health and Safety Code section 25299.31 and the regulations adopted pursuant to this section. This is not a reimbursement program. Work cannot begin until you have an agreement executed by the State Water Board.  

State Water Resources Control Board

Replacing, Removing, or Upgrading Underground Storage Tanks (RUST) grants are available to assist small business underground storage tank (UST) owners and operators in financing up to 100 percent of the costs necessary to upgrade, remove, or replace project tanks to comply with the requirements of Health and Safety Code section 25284.1, 25292.05, 25292.4, 25292.5, or 41954. Please note that removal-only projects are now eligible for RUST grants. Grants are available for between $3,000 and $70,000 to eligible UST owners/operators. An additional $140,000 in RUST grant moneys above the $70,000 maximum is available for remote public fueling stations for the purpose of removing and replacing a single-walled UST. (See Health and Safety Code § 25299.107(e) for more information.) Eligibility Requirements Grant applicants must be a UST owner and/or operator and meet all of the following requirements: • The applicant is a small business that employs fewer than 20 full-time and part-time employees, is independently owned and operated, and is not dominant in its field of operation; • The grant applicant’s principal office and its officers must be domiciled in California; • The facility where the project tank is located was legally in business retailing gasoline after January 1, 1999. • All of the tanks owned and operated by the grant applicant are subject to compliance with Health and Safety Code chapter 6.7 and implementing regulations; • The facility where the subject tank is located has sold, at retail, less than 900,000 gallons of gasoline annually for each of the two years preceding the submission of the grant application; (Gallonage is based upon taxable sales figures provided to the State Board of Equalization (BOE) on the grant applicant’s BOE 401 GS including Schedule G.) • The grant applicant meets either of the following: The grant applicant is in compliance with Health and Safety Code sections 41954 and 25290.1, 25290.2, 25291, or subdivisions (d) and (e) of section 25292; (The facility must provide a current UST permit, a current Permit to Operate, and proof of EVR compliance as evidence of compliance with the permit compliance requirements.) or   Revised 1/2020 The grant applicant meets the requirements for a waiver from the RUST grant permit compliance requirements. (The project is for removal-only and the grant applicant does not qualify for a RUST loan.)   This is not a reimbursement program. Work cannot begin until you have an agreement executed by the State Water Board.  

State Water Resources Control Board

Replacing, Removing, or Upgrading Underground Storage Tanks (RUST) loans are available to assist small business underground storage tank (UST) owners and operators in financing up to 100 percent of the costs necessary to upgrade, remove, or replace project tanks, including corrective actions, to meet applicable local, state, or federal standards, including, but not limited to, any design, construction, monitoring, operation, or maintenance requirements adopted pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 25284.1, 25292.05, 25292.4, or 41954. Loan Terms Low-interest loans are available for between $10,000 and $750,000, for a term of 10 or 20 years. • Ten-year loans are secured by the Uniform Commercial Code Financing Statement on business assets. • Twenty-year loans are secured by a deed of trust on real estate with adequate equity. • A loan fee of 2 percent must be paid at final loan closing. • Please contact the State Water Board or your local Financial Development Corporation for the current interest rate. Eligibility Requirements Loan applicants must be a UST owner and/or operator and meet all of the following requirements: • The loan applicant is a small business that employs fewer than 500 full-time and part-time employees, is independently owned and operated, and is not dominant in its field of operation; • The loan applicant’s principal office and its officers must be domiciled in California; • All of the tanks owned and operated by the loan applicant are subject to compliance with Health and Safety Code chapter 6.7 and the regulation adopted pursuant to that chapter; • The loan applicant must provide financial and legal documents necessary to demonstrate the ability to repay the loan and availability of adequate collateral to secure the loan; and Revised 8/2020 • The loan applicant must have complied, or will comply, with the financial responsibility requirements specified in Health and Safety Code section 25299.31 and the regulations adopted pursuant to this section. This is not a reimbursement program. Work cannot begin until you have an agreement executed by the State Water Board.  

State Water Resources Control Board

Eligible Applicants: Local public agencies Eligible Uses: Eligible projects include recycled water treatment; recycled water storage, distribution, and pumping; groundwater recharge; and indirect potable reuse. Ineligible Uses: Operation and maintenance costs.  Eligible Costs: All costs necessary to determine the feasibility of using recycled water and to select an alternative to offset or augment the use of fresh/potable water from state or local supplies may be eligible for the planning grant. Eligible Communities: All community types are eligible for funding.  This includes small and large communities, non-disadvantaged, disadvantaged, and severely disadvantaged communities. For more information, please review the Water Recycling Funding Program (WRFP) Guidelines: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/grants_loans/docs/wrfp_guidelines.pdf  

State Water Resources Control Board

Eligible Applicants: Local public agencies, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations qualified to do business in California, Public Utilities, Federally and non-federally recognized Native American tribes on the Native American Heritage Commission’s list, and Mutual water companies. Eligible Uses: Eligible projects include recycled water treatment; recycled water storage, distribution, and pumping; groundwater recharge; indirect potable reuse; and surface water augmentation. Ineligible Uses: Operation and maintenance costs.  Eligible Costs:  Construction Grant Funding - Construction costs only Eligible Communities: All community types are eligible for funding.  This includes small and large communities, non-disadvantaged, disadvantaged, and severely disadvantaged communities. For more information, please review the Water Recycling Funding Program (WRFP) Guidelines: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/grants_loans/docs/wrfp_guidelines.pdf  

State Water Resources Control Board

Eligible Applicants: Local public agencies, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations qualified to do business in California, Public Utilities, Federally and non-federally recognized Native American tribes on the Native American Heritage Commission’s list, and Mutual water companies. Eligible Uses: Eligible projects include recycled water treatment; recycled water storage, distribution, and pumping; groundwater recharge; indirect potable reuse; and surface water augmentation. Ineligible Uses: Operation and maintenance costs.  Eligible Costs:  Construction Grant Funding - Construction costs only Construction Loan Funding - Planning, Design, and Construction Eligible Communities: All community types are eligible for funding.  This includes small and large communities, non-disadvantaged, disadvantaged, and severely disadvantaged communities. For more information, please review the Water Recycling Funding Program (WRFP) Guidelines:  https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/grants_loans/docs/wrfp_guidelines.pdf  

State Water Resources Control Board

The State Water Board has funding available from various sources within the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) Program to fund drinking water projects that address drought-related and contamination issues. Although we have several programs already in place, we have identified gaps for regional programs that address the needs of households served by state smalls and domestic wells throughout the State.  DFA does not award funding directly to households, and available DFA funding to address emergency needs of state smalls and domestic wells can’t be implemented on an immediate basis. One key goal of this program is to award funding to counties or their partners to enable them to setup programs proactively, based on anticipated needs, and therefore be ready to respond promptly when urgent needs arise.  

State Water Resources Control Board

The Cleanup and Abatement Account (CAA) was created by Water Code Sections 13440-13443 to provide grants for the cleanup or abatement of a condition of pollution when there are no viable responsible parties available to undertake the work.  Water code section 13442 authorizes the State Water Board to utilize CAA funds to address an urgent drinking water need. This includes needs due to drought, contamination, or other eligible emergencies. The CAA is funded by various monies including those: appropriated by the Legislature; collected as part of criminal penalties or civil proceedings brought pursuant to Division 7 of the Water Code; collected or recovered by the State Water Board or a Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) under Chapter 6.7 of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code; and repaid by loan recipients, including principal, interest, and fees. In some instances, a court judgment or settlement agreement specifies how collected funds are to be spent (e.g., a specific cleanup, investigation, or supplemental environmental project [SEP]). Those funds are typically set aside in the CAA for that identified purpose, consistent with statutes governing uses of the CAA. After accounting for these needs and other prior encumbrances, remaining CAA funds may be utilized to fund: (1) projects that clean up and/or abate the effects of a waste on waters of the State, or (2) projects that address urgent drinking water needs.

State Water Resources Control Board

Eligible Applicants: Any city, town, district, or other public body created under state law, including state agencies A Native American tribal government or an authorized Native American tribal organization having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes or other waste Any designated and approved management agency under Section 208 of the Clean Water Act 501(c)(3)'s and National Estuary Programs Eligible projects include, but are not limited to: Construction of publicly-owned treatment facilities: wastewater treatment, local sewers, sewer interceptors, water reclamation and distribution, stormwater treatment, combined sewers, and landfill leachate treatment. Implementation of nonpoint source (NPS) projects to address pollution associated with: agriculture, forestry, urban areas, marinas, hydromodification, wetlands, and development and implementation of estuary comprehensive conservation and management plans for: San Francisco Bay Morro Bay Santa Monica Bay. Financing Terms: Interest Rate - ½ most recent General Obligation (GO) Bond Rate at time of funding approval Financing Term - up to 30 years or the useful life of the project Financing Amount - No maximum funding limit, but partial funding may be applied in annual CWSRF Intended Use Plan. No maximum disbursement limit! Repayment - Begins 1 year after completion of construction Applicants qualifying as small disadvantaged communities (DACs) or small severely disadvantaged communities (SDACs) may be eligible for grants and/or principal forgiveness. Based on affordability criteria, applicant agencies may qualify for 50%, 75%, or 100% grant up to a maximum grant amount.

State Water Resources Control Board

In 2019, Senate Bill 200 (SB200) established the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water (SADW) Fund to address funding gaps and provide solutions to water systems, especially those serving DACs, to address both their short- and long-term drinking water needs.  The SADW Fund is one of several funds that are part of the larger SAFER Program.  Complementary funding sources administered by the State Water Board’s Division of Financial Assistance for drinking water projects include: General Fund allocations, the Cleanup and Abatement Account, Proposition 68 Drinking Water, Proposition 1 and Proposition 68 Groundwater, and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), which offers repayable, low-interest financing and loans with partial or complete principal forgiveness. Up to $130 million per year will be available from the SADW Fund for ten years (starting with Fiscal Year 2020-21) for local assistance and state operations. The amount available from complementary funding sources varies each year.  The priority uses of the SADW Fund include: 1) addressing any emergency or urgent funding needs, where other emergency funds are not available and a critical water shortage or outage could occur without support from the Fund; 2) addressing community water systems (CWSs) and school water systems out of compliance with primary health standards, focusing on small Disadvantaged Communities (DACs); 3) accelerating consolidations for systems out of compliance, at-risk systems, as well as state smalls and domestic wells, focusing on small DACs; 4) providing interim solutions and initiating planning efforts for long-term solutions for state smalls and domestic wells with source water above a primary maximum contaminant level (MCL).  Anticipated expenditures of the SADW Fund will be consistent with the priorities and will be used in conjunction with other available complementary funding available in the larger SAFER Program to address funding gaps.  Priorities for the complementary funding sources part of the larger SAFER Program generally align with the priorities of the SADW Fund.   

State Water Resources Control Board

The Division of Financial Assistant (DFA), State Water Board manages the DWSRF program and prioritizes financing for projects that address the most serious human health risks, are necessary to comply with SDWA, and assist public water systems (PWS) most in need on per household basis. Periodically funding programs that help provide clean and safe water are used in combination with the DWSRF program. Eligible  community water systems (CWS) currently may receive principle forgiveness (PF)/grant from $2,000,000 up to 100% of total eligible project cost depending on the project types, community served by the CWS, and residential water rates as a percentage of MHI. Financing terms varies from 0% interest to half of California's average general obligation bond rate for the previous calendar year. Repayment may be amortized for 30 to 40 years or the useful life of he financed construction facilities.  Construction of water systems' infrastructures (treatment facilities, water sources, storages, and distribution systems) and contingency of change orders are common eligible construction cost. Additional eligible construction cost examples are value appraisal and land purchase for right-of-way and easements, planning and design, administration, and construction management. Applications for the DWSRF program and associated funding are accepted on a continuous basis. After DFA receives a complete application, a detailed technical, environmental, legal, and financial review is conducted to determine the applicant’s eligibility for DWSRF and associated drinking water funding.

State Water Resources Control Board

The Division of Financial Assistant (DFA), State Water Board manages the DWSRF program and prioritizes financing for projects that address the most serious human health risks, are necessary to comply with SDWA, and assist public water systems (PWS) most in need on per household basis. Periodically funding programs that help provide clean and safe water are used in combination with the DWSRF program. Eligible small community water systems (SCWS) serving a small disadvantage community (DAC) and small severely disadvantage communities (SDAC), eligible non-transient non-community water systems (NTNC) serving a small DAC or small SDAC, and public water systems (PWS) extending service to small DACs andsmall SDACs may receive the maximum principle forgiveness (PF)/grant of $500,000. Other public water systems may receive loan or partial loan with subsidized interest rate and maximum term for repayable of five or ten years. Planning costs may include the preparation of planning/design documents such as Feasibility studies and project reports, plans and specifications, engineering and specifications, environmental documents, capital improvement plans, etc. Other costs such as legal costs and fees, environmental review, TMF assessments, water rate studies, and test wells are also eligible for funding under planning projects. Applications for the DWSRF program and associated funding are accepted on a continuous basis. After DFA  receives a complete application, a detailed technical, environmental, legal, and financial review is conducted to determine the applicant’s eligibility for DWSRF and associated drinking water funding.

State Water Resources Control Board

Senate Bill 445 (Hill, chapter 547, statutes of 2014), effective September 25, 2014, changed the OSCF eligibility criteria by not limiting the program to brownfield sites.   Grant Details Grants provide funding for response actions that characterize, assess, andinvestigate an unauthorized release from petroleum USTs. These actions include apreliminary site assessment, soil and groundwater investigations, and preparation of a corrective action plan in accordance with California Code of Regulations, Title 23, Chapter 16, Article 11. Grants may also provide funding for UST system removal, petroleum product removal and soil excavation, not to exceed 500 cubic yards at the eligible site. Grants also provide funding for response actions that carry out cleanup activities,implement a corrective action plans, and perform verification monitoring in accordance with California Code of Regulations, Title 23, Chapter 16, Article 11. If a corrective action plan is required, the State Water Board cannot award a cleanup grant until the applicant demonstrates the corrective action plan is complete and approved by the regulatory agency. However, the applicant may apply for a cleanup grant before completion and approval of the corrective action plan. Note that only the current property owner is eligible for a Cleanup Grant.

State Water Resources Control Board

The UST Cleanup Fund provides a means for petroleum UST owners and operators to meet the federal and state requirements of maintaining financial responsibility to pay for damages arising from unauthorized releases from their petroleum USTs. The Fund assists a large number of small businesses and individuals by providing reimbursement for expenses associated with the cleanup of leaking USTs.