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The State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF), was created by Congress in the Clean Water Act amendments of 1987, to replace the Construction Grant Program. The purpose of the SRF is to provide loans at or below market rate and to provide other forms of financial assistance to municipalities to assist them in financing the construction of wastewater treatment works and projects to control non-point sources of water pollution
Program Goals & Objectives - Project Eligibility - Project Ranking Criteria
The types of financial assistance available include:
- Loans at or below market rate;
- Loan guarantees;
- Purchase bond insurance to guarantee dept service retirement;
- Refinancing existing debt obligations where the initial debt was incurred after March 5, 1987 and the project complied with all the requirements necessary to receive a loan.
Under the revolving loan fund concept, a fund is capitalized with a combination of federal grants and state matching funds (in the amount of 20% of the federal grants). Nevada's matching funds are provided by the sale of state bonds which are secured by the loan agreements with local governments and the full faith and credit of the State.
Authorization for funding capitalization grants ended in Federal Fiscal Year 1994. However, funds have been appropriated on an annual basis by Congress since 1994, although the status of future federal funding is uncertain at this time. Repayments to the revolving loan fund are building a balance which is available to make new loans.
The loan repayment periods range from 10 to 20 years with interest rates at or below market. Interest rates are currently calculated at 62.5% of the Bond Buyers Index Rate. The Bureau, however, can use other means of determining the interest rate if it concludes another method is appropriate. A low interest loan can yield as much financial assistance as a grant of 30 to 40% of project costs. The loan program is quite flexible both in terms of financing strategies and types of projects which can be funded.
Eligible projects include sewage treatment plants, collection systems, interceptors, infiltration/inflow correction, sludge management projects, storm water control projects, erosion control and other non-point source control projects.
Project development may best be considered as a three step process:
- Facilities planning to determine the type and extent of project you should build and the environmental review of the proposed project.
- Project design including the preparation of construction drawings, specifications and other contract documents.
- Building the project.
After the Federal government appropriates funds for the grants for the SRF program, EPA allots the funds to the States based on a formula established by law. Each state, in turn, prepares a list of all projects to be funded and ranks the projects in order of their importance. The resulting list is called the"State Project Priority List" (see below). Your project must be included on the list in order for you to obtain financial assistance.
The steps to be followed to receive a loan are:
- Complete a Facility Plan.
- NDEP will complete an Environmental Review, based on the Environmental Assessment included in the Facility Plan.
- After the Facility Plan is approved and the Environmental Review is completed, begin design of the project.
- Apply for the loan. Loan applications are provided by NDEP or may be found at the web site.
- Submit a sewer use ordinance and user charge system for review and modify if necessary.
- Submit plans and specifications for review and approval.
- Secure the services of Bond Counsel. The loan is in the form of a bond. All steps to sell a bond on the open market must be followed, except that the bond is sold to the State Treasurer at below market rate. The bond must be a General Obligation Bond and must be sold in accordance with the provisions of NRS Chapter 350.
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Application Forms, Checklists & Project Priority Lists 
