Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants - Tribal Set-Aside Program - EPA
Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants - Tribal Set-Aside Program (DWIG-TSA)
This program from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets aside up to 2% of the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) for grants to improve the infrastructure of drinking water systems that serve Tribes.
Additional Resources:
Click to access 20 Years of Protecting Public Health on Tribal Lands: EPA Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants
Click to access EPA's FY 2024 Funding Memorandum
Program Eligibility Requirements
Any federally recognized tribe is eligible to receive a DWIG grant. If the Indian Health Service (IHS) agrees, tribes may request that IHS receive the project funds to administer the project.
Funds can be used only for planning and construction expenditures at community or non-profit non-community drinking water systems that serve tribes. Funds must be used to address the most significant threats to public health.
These funds cannot be used for compliance monitoring, operation, and maintenance of a system.
Examples of projects funded by the DWIG-TSA base funding program are:
Rehabilitation or development of sources of drinking water;
Installation or upgrade of treatment facilities;
Installation or upgrade of storage facilities;
Installation or replacement of transmission or distribution pipes; or
Replacement of aging water system infrastructure.
Projects can also be funded to develop project engineering reports, engineering design work and project administration.
Determining Tribal Drinking Water Funding Needs
EPA’s Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA) reports funding needs that are required to maintain and improve the nation’s drinking water infrastructure to protect public health. These needs include projects to ensure compliance with the SDWA that are eligible for funding under the DWSRF and the DWIG-TSA. As part of the DWINSA, EPA documents the 20-year capital investment needs for American Indian and Alaska Native Village water systems.
As directed by the SDWA, EPA uses the results of the survey as a tool for allocating DWSRF to the Tribes. The following links provide information from the latest survey, conducted in 2021, and previous surveys that included Tribal water systems:
7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment Fact Sheet – April 2023 – Provides an overview of the 7th DWINSA conducted in 2021
7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment FAQs – April 2023
2011 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment: Fifth Report to Congress - Documents the fifth DWINS conducted by EPA in 2010.
EPA’s 2011 Drinking Water Needs Survey and Assessment Fact Sheet.
Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey-First Report to Congress - Documents the first DWINS conducted by EPA in 1997.