33 Miss. Code. R. 5-V
The SDWA allows each state to set-aside up to 31 percent of its federal Cap grant to support non-project-related drinking water programs which includes administration of the loan program, technical assistance to public water systems, state program management, and other special activities. The state plans to use $2,169,244 of the FFY-2015 Federal Capitalization grant to support the non-project-related drinking water programs activities along with an additional $915,900 in state money needed for state program management match. These non-project-related programs will be operated by MSDH within the agency itself or through contracts with other agencies or organizations. Contracts between the MSDH and other agencies or organizations will be approved by the Board. Work plans detailing how funds will be expended for the set-asides utilized are included as appendices within this IUP. Additionally, progress reports will be included in the Annual Report for those set-asides utilized. The state has elected to increase the amount of the FFY-2015 Local Assistance and Other State Programs assistance from $500,000 (5.46%) to $750,000 (8.19%), and reserves the right to make revisions to utilize additional funds from this set-aside.
Standard Capitalization Grant
The state plans to reserve for use at a later date the 4% administrative set-aside from the FFY-2015 Capitalization Grant ($366,360); the state will use the 4% administrative set-aside amount previously reserved from the FFY-2003 Capitalization Grant ($320,164) by taking an equal amount from the FFY-2015 Capitalization Grant for the administration of the Program in FFY-2015. Costs beyond this set aside amount will be paid from the funds generated by the 5% administrative fee taken from loan repayments. This change will decrease the total set-aside amount for the FFY-2015 Cap grant from $2,215,440 to $2,169,244.
The state will continue to exercise its right to reserve the Administrative amounts from the FFY-2009 Cap Grant ($325,840), the remaining balance of the FFY-2010 Cap Grant ($282,500), the FFY-2011 Cap Grant ($392,080) and the FFY-2014 Cap Grant ($366,360). These amounts are planned to be taken from future capitalization grants (over the next several years) for administration of the Program. Reserving previous years' 4% administrative set-aside will ensure that the Program will continue to operate with an adequate DWSIRLF staff for proper management of the Program. The reserved set-aside amounts are based on the original capitalization grants awarded during those previous fiscal years.
Standard Capitalization Grant
The state will use the Small Systems Technical Assistance (2%) set-aside from the FFY-2015 Cap Grant ($183,180) to provide technical assistance to public water systems serving areas with populations of 10,000 or less. With approval by the Board, the state intends to use this set-aside to fund contracts for the following activities: Special Technical Assistance to Referred Systems; Board Management Training for Water System Officials; On-Site Technical Assistance; PEER Review Program; and Hands-on Operator Training. Contact costs exceed this set aside amount, however, the overage is paid from carryover funds from previous Small Systems Technical Assistance set asides which were not used in those years. Each of these activities is described in detail in the State of Mississippi's Small Systems Technical Assistance Set-Aside Work Plan included as Appendix F to this IUP.
Standard Capitalization Grant
The state intends to use the full 10% set-aside from the FFY-2015 Cap grant ($915,900), as authorized by Section 1452(g)(2) of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996 for State Program Management. The funds will be used for Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) activities conducted under Section 1443(a) of the Act. These activities are described in more detail in the State of Mississippi's State Program Management Set-aside Annual Work Plan included as Appendix G to this RIP. The state must provide a dollar-for-dollar match (100% match) for the Cap grant funds used for these activities. The dollar-for-dollar match is in addition to the twenty (20%) percent state match required for the Cap grant.
The state is allowed to offset the 100% match requirement by claiming credit for State FFY-2015 PWSS expenditures that exceed the State's FFY-2015 PWSS match requirement. The state is further allowed to use state FFY-2015 PWSS expenditures as a "coupon" to offset the 100% match requirement as long as this amount does not exceed the amount that can be claimed from FFY-2015 expenditures. The MSDH Bureau of Public Water Supply has elected to decline the "coupon" since it sees this as providing no additional monetary benefit to the State Program Management Program.
A tabulation showing amount and source of funds to satisfy match requirements for the FFY-2015 State Program Management set-aside is furnished as Appendix H to this IUP.
The state intends to use $750,000 (8.19%) of the 15% set-aside amount which is allowed from the FFY-2015 Cap grant to provide funding for wellhead protection projects throughout the state. These funds will be used to properly abandon inactive wells that pose a risk to existing active public water supply source water wells, as well as the environment.
33 Miss. Code. R. 5-V