Oregon’s Drinking Water Source Protection Fund
The State of Oregon Drinking Water Source Protection Fund is administered by the Business Oregon
Infrastructure Finance Authority under a cooperative agreement with the Oregon Health Authority
(OHA) Drinking Water Program. Funds are available as part of the Local Assistance Set-aside from the
Oregon Safe Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund Program. All community and non-profit noncommunity water systems with a completed Source Water Assessment are eligible for grants of up to
$30,000 and low interest loans of up to $100,000. Regional Projects involving more than one water
system are eligible for grant funding that is equal to $30,000 per water system. To be eligible, projects
must focus on one of the following categories:
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Enhanced delineation of drinking water source areas using new or additional site-specific
information as part of a more comprehensive source protection strategy.
Enhanced assessment inventory that involves expanding or updating the inventory of land uses
or existing and potential point and non-point contaminant sources.
Enhanced assessment evaluation that establishes a water quality monitoring project to evaluate
existing and potential threats to water quality.
Drinking water source protection planning projects that identify appropriate protection
measures such as Drinking Water Source Protection Plan development, educational projects,
Drinking Water Source protection ordinances, and development of restoration/conservation
plans.
Implementation of protection strategies that will reduce risks within Drinking Water Source
Areas.
Security measures that are clearly intended to protect highly sensitive source water areas near
wells, springs, and/or surface water intakes.
Projects are solicited each year via a letter of interest form submitted by eligible water systems during
the enrollment period that occurs between mid-July and mid-September. Each Drinking Water Source
Protection project proposal that’s submitted on a Letter of Interest form is reviewed and evaluated.
Letters of Interest received from groundwater systems are reviewed and evaluated by the Drinking
Water Program staff at the OHA. Letters of Interest received from surface water systems are reviewed
and evaluated by the Drinking Water Protection staff at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)
Water Quality Division.
DW Source Protection project submittals are evaluated based on five criteria:
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area and level of sensitivity of the drinking water source,
presence of high-risk sources of contamination within the drinking water source area,
contaminant detections at the source,
proposed reduction or prevention activities, and
risk reduction potential
Each scored project is then placed on a numerically ranked Project Priority List and projects are funded
from the top of the list down until no funds remain or there are no remaining eligible projects that
qualify for funding. When possible, the OHA Drinking Water Program and DEQ try to split available
grant funds equally between groundwater and surface water systems.