Loans also may be awarded to address nonpoint source pollution control activities.  Eligible nonpoint source activities include projects such as effluent trading, upgrading or replacing individual septic tanks, restoring wetlands, treating and controlling stormwater, and dealing with agricultural runoff.

DEQ queries wastewater treatment systems and potential nonpoint source applicants annually to obtain information on projects for which loan funds could be used. Prospective candidates must respond to the DEQ query by submitting either a Letter of Interest for a Nonpoint Source Project or a Letter of Interest for a Wastewater System to be eligible for placement on the Priority List.  All potential projects on the state's annual Priority List are listed according to a rating and ranking process based upon public health and water quality concerns. The Priority List is then refined based upon an entity's readiness to proceed.  The refined listing makes up the final "fundable list."

Fundable projects on the Priority List are placed on the Intended Use Plan, which outlines the purpose and goals of the state's wastewater loan program, explains how projects are selected for funding, and identifies priority projects eligible for state assistance.

Once funding is secured from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state match is provided, communities with projects on the Intended Use Plan are invited to submit applications. After review of the application and satisfaction that all environmental and legal requirements have been met, a loan may be offered.

The interest rate is established annually on the basis of 75% of the index of 20-year obligation bonds. The interest rate for most loans issued in FY 2008 will be 3.00%. These loans must be fully repaid within 20 years of project completion.

Funding is derived from four sources. Congress appropriates funds to EPA, which then allots those funds to the states based upon set formulas. Each state is required to provide a 20% match. Idaho's match comes from a transfer to the loan account from the Water Pollution Control Account. Loan repayments and interest earnings provide the other resources for new water pollution loans.

> View FY 2008 Annual Report (to EPA)for the State Revolving Fund (pdf 837 kb,
   35 pages)

Periodically, EPA conducts an audit of water pollution control revolving loan funds to assure that monies are being appropriately allocated.

> View EPA's Program Evaluation Report: DEQ Wastewater Water Pollution Control
   Revolving Fund, State Fiscal Year 2007 (pdf 3.6 mb, 54 pages)

In FY 09, water pollution control loans were awarded to the following recipients:

• City of Filer
• City of Wendell
• City of Potlatch
• City of Chubbuck

> View PDF map identifying locations of all FY 09 Drinking Water and Wastewater

   Grant and Loan Recipients.

Each spring DEQ develops a draft plan defining how it intends to allocate resources for wastewater planning, design, and construction projects during the next state fiscal year. A public comment period is then held on the draft plan, after which the plan is presented to the Board of Environmental Quality for final review and adoption.

Previous years' plans were structured according to the state fiscal year, which begins July 1 of each year and ends the following June 30. In spring 2009, however, Idaho received federal stimulus funding for wastewater improvement projects. To enable the federal stimulus dollars to be disbursed in FY 09, the effective date of the current plan was moved up to April 21, 2009, the date it was approved by the Board of Environmental Quality. The plan extends through the end of the 2010 fiscal year (June 30, 2010). Under the plan, a total of 13 projects will be eligible for loans totaling more than $69 million (see Attachment I).

› View Wastewater State Revolving Fund Intended Use Plan for FYs 2009 and
  2010 (DEQ Publication, May 2009: pdf 190 kb, 43 pages)
  Last updated: May 13, 2009

To date in FY 10, a water pollution control loan has been awarded to the following recipient:

• City of Bliss
• City of Melba
• City of Reubens
• City of Lava Hot Springs
• City of Murtaugh