Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Grant

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Office of Wastewater Management is offering the Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Grant Program under Section 1459E of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The program is intended to accelerate career pipelines in the water utilities sector, provide access to water utility workforce opportunities, increase awareness of water and wastewater utility careers, and help develop the next generation of water workers. EPA identifies water workforce development in rural, small, and tribal communities as a particular focus. Projects must support Pillar 1, Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American, and should produce measurable results and tangible benefits for water systems and communities. Applicants must propose work under one and only one of four Project Areas. Project Area 1 supports targeted internship, apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, and postsecondary bridge programs for skilled water utility trades. Project Area 2 supports education programs for elementary, secondary, and higher education students. Project Area 3 supports regional industry and workforce development collaborations addressing water utility employment needs and candidate development, particularly in small and rural areas, areas of high unemployment, and utilities with a high proportion of retirement-eligible employees. Project Area 4 supports education and training programs, including internships and apprenticeships, for decentralized water workers serving private well and septic systems. Every application must address three required elements: one Project Area, Geographic Area, and an Innovative Approach. Applicants must explain how project activities, results, and lessons learned will be shared with geographically diverse areas and how awareness will be expanded to individuals from rural, small, and tribal communities. EPA is particularly interested in scalable results that can be used by the broader water sector. Up to $10,800,000 may be awarded, with up to 15 awards anticipated. Project Area 1 anticipates 1 to 8 awards ranging from $1,000,000 to $7,800,000, with $7.8 million available. Project Areas 2, 3, and 4 each anticipate 1 to 4 awards ranging from $250,000 to $1,000,000, with $1 million available for each Project Area. Awards are expected to have a three-year project period and are anticipated to be cooperative agreements involving substantial EPA participation. Funding is dependent on Agency funding levels, application quality, agency priorities, satisfactory performance, and other applicable considerations, and funding each year is not guaranteed. EPA may partially fund discrete portions or phases of proposed projects and may make additional awards if additional funding becomes available. Cost sharing is not required. Any cost share voluntarily proposed becomes a binding requirement and must comply with applicable federal cost-share rules. Eligible applicants are Institutions of Higher Education, public works departments and agencies, nonprofit organizations, nonprofit professional or service organizations, nonprofit labor organizations, nonprofit community colleges, and other nonprofit training and educational institutions. For-profit organizations and hospitals are not eligible. Certain Section 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that engage in prohibited lobbying activities are also ineligible. An applicant must satisfy the eligibility requirements when its application is submitted, may submit only one application, and must address only one Project Area. Applications must also address the required Project Area, Geographic Area, and Innovative Approach elements and substantially comply with the application requirements. Coalitions are permitted when two or more eligible applicants coordinate on one application, but they must designate one eligible organization as the recipient and identify eligible organizations receiving subawards. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov by October 5, 2026, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Applicants must have active SAM.gov and Grants.gov accounts, and the UEI on the application must correspond to the applicant organization's SAM.gov account. Required documents are the SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance, SF-424A Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs, EPA Key Contacts Form 5700-54, EPA Form 4700-4 Preaward Compliance Review Report, and Project Narrative Attachment Form. The Project Narrative is limited to 20 single-spaced pages including the cover page and executive summary. It must address the cover page, executive summary, workplan, project partnerships, transfer of results, environmental results and progress measurement, milestone schedule, detailed budget narrative, programmatic capability and experience, and past performance. Biographical sketches and, if included, full resumes are outside the narrative page limit. Applicants experiencing unresolved Grants.gov technical problems must contact Grants.gov before the deadline, obtain a ticket or case number, and email EPA before the deadline with the required technical issue information and the complete application package in PDF format. Eligible applications are evaluated on a 100-point scale. Project Area accounts for 25 points, Project Partnerships for 10, Transfer of Results for 10, Environmental Results and Measuring Progress for 10, Milestone Schedule and Detailed Budget for 15, Programmatic Capability and Experience for 20, and Past Performance for 10. EPA staff first screen applications against threshold requirements and then establish a separate ranking list for each Project Area. Final funding decisions may also consider geographical distribution, program priorities, and whether an applicant has previously received Innovative Water Workforce funding. Questions about the opportunity must be submitted in writing by September 14, 2026, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. The technical and eligibility contact is Hana Abate at WaterWorkforceNOFO@epa.gov. Grants.gov submission assistance is available at support@grants.gov or 1-800-518-4726. EPA anticipates notifying selected applicants in January 2027 and anticipates award notification in April 2027. Selection is not authorization to begin work and does not guarantee an award; the official award notice signed by an EPA grants officer is the authorizing document. The period between selection notification and award may take up to 90 days or longer, and selected applicants may have to submit additional documents before an award is finalized. The project start date will follow award acceptance, and projects may run for up to three years. The notice does not state that this competition recurs annually or on another regular schedule, so no recurring cycle is established from the source.

Address one and only one Project Area and explicitly address every scored criterion. Clearly explain outreach to rural, small, and tribal communities and sharing with geographically diverse areas. Demonstrate an innovative approach with potential to reach the intended audience. Identify appropriate partnerships and clearly define partner roles, or demonstrate the ability to succeed without partners. Provide a detailed strategy to transfer and scale results across the broader water sector. Define measurable outputs and outcomes linked to Pillar 1 and explain how progress will be tracked. Provide a complete milestone schedule and a reasonable, allowable, cost-effective budget aligned with project tasks. Observe the 20-page Project Narrative limit and complete Grants.gov validation before the deadline.