Program Overview
The Massachusetts Clean Water Trust (the Trust) and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) provide grant funds to qualifying applicants for the preparation of full Asset Management Plans (AMPs) for existing drinking water, wastewater, and/or stormwater infrastructure. The Trust provides a grant award of $150,000 or 60% of eligible project cost, whichever is less. The eligible entities provide the remaining amount through In-Kind Services (IKS), a capital contribution, and/or an SRF loan.
MassDEP prioritizes small communities and utilities (those with a population under 10,000 or small systems with service connections of fewer than 3,330), and first-time AMP grant applicants. AMP proposals must address the five core components of an AMP, including an inventory and condition of current assets, level of service, criticality analysis, life cycle cost analysis, and long-term financial planning, resulting in a report.
Applicants are limited to one active AMP Grant per utility, per Intended Use Plan cycle. If an applicant has previously completed any core tasks through the AMP Grant Program, that information must be clearly identified in the application as having been supported by the program and incorporated into the application. Work completed in a previous AMP is not an eligible cost for a subsequent application.
Grant Funding
The Trust provides a maximum award of $150,000 or 60% of the total estimated planning cost, whichever is less, with the applicant providing the remaining amount with In-Kind Services (IKS), a capital contribution, and/or an SRF loan. Applicants are required to make a local matching contribution of at least 40% of the total estimated cost.
The IKS match is a contribution of the applicant’s staff time spent actively working on the proposed project’s Scope of Work (SOW) activities. The IKS contribution is limited to 50% of the local match, with the exception that small systems may request to increase their IKS up to 70% of the required local funding match. Small systems may also request a waiver to increase their IKS contribution to cover 100% of the required local match. The intention to seek a waiver should be stated in the Project Evaluation Form. The waiver request must justify the increase and is subject to review by MassDEP and approval by the Trust’s Board of Trustees.
While it is highly recommended that IKS be utilized to the greatest extent possible, it is not required. The applicant may choose to provide cash contributions to fulfill any fraction of their matching contribution. The cash contributions can originate from sources including, but not limited to, a 5-year 2% interest SRF Planning Project loan as well as funds available from operational or reserve accounts.
Program Goals
AMP grants assist with completing an asset management plan for drinking water, wastewater, and/or stormwater utilities. Additionally, the AMP program assists State Revolving Fund applicants with meeting most of the federally required Fiscal Sustainability Planning.
The following are the goals of the AMP Grant Program:
- Improve existing maintenance practices to ensure the regular replacement of mechanical systems prior to failure.
- Identify equipment replacement costs to establish and evaluate annual budget line items.
- Outline the annual cost effects on rate structure.
- Establish an inventory of existing equipment that allows a replacement program to be developed.
- Create an AMP that ensures operational continuity of water resource infrastructure systems to protect public health and the environment.
- Assist with new computer software for data collection, making tracking and organizing asset management priorities more efficient.
- Enable cybersecurity assessments that improve infrastructure security as part of a criticality analysis.
Eligible Entities and Activities
Eligible Entities are those defined as Eligible Borrowers in MGL Chapter 29C, and includes: any city, town, special district, or other existing municipal governmental sub-unit which owns and controls a drinking water, wastewater, stormwater or water re-use treatment or conveyance system, or any public water system (PWS). An eligible entity is referred to as the “applicant” in this document.
Funding Eligible Activities
Work necessary to complete the five core components of an Asset Management Plan and an AMP report:
1. Asset Inventory and Condition
- Creating an inventory
- Verifying available information and documenting condition of existing assets
- Assessing remaining useful life, value, and replacement costs
- Documenting/labeling asset location
2. Level of Service
- Establishing Level of Service Goals (customer demand, regulatory requirements)
- Assessing performance data
- Communicating with staff and the public
3. Criticality/Risk Analysis
- Determination of critical assets
- Likelihood/consequence of failure determination, including that caused by climate change
- Cybersecurity (assessment only)
- Climate change/ flooding/sea level rise and resiliency analysis
- Criticality matrix
- Prioritization of asset replacement/rehabilitation
4. Life Cycle Cost Analysis
- Accounting for capital, replacement, and operation and maintenance costs
5. Long-Term Funding Strategy
- Creation of sustainable financial structure to meet full cost of providing level of service in the long-term
- Review of funding options
- Review and revision of existing rate structure
- Preparation of budget/capital improvement plans
Final Report
- Preparation of final report
- Public education/meetings
Additional Eligible Cost: Asset Management Software
- Asset Management software, limited to one-time per applicant, with a maximum subscription/license of two years. This applies to first time procurements of asset management software, not replacement software or the payment of the subscription/license fee for existing software.
Additional information, including an expansion of these topics and what are ineligible activities, can be found in the grant program description documents provided by MassDEP.
Application Process
All forms and program details for the current year may be found on MassDEP's SRF Application and Forms webpage.
Applicants must file an online Project Evaluation Form (PEF) during the SRF Annual Project Solicitation period (mid-May to end-July). Further instructions for submitting the PEF and program specific guidance are provided in the grant program guidance documents.
The highest-ranking proposals are recommended for funding as indicated on the draft IUP. The final grant recipients are listed in the Final Intended Use Plan.