Integrated Planning Technical Assistance
Current Technical Assistance
EPA is providing states and municipalities free technical assistance to support the integrated plan development and review process. The deadline to request EPA’s 2023 Free Technical Assistance is August 31, 2023.
For state permitting authorities, technical assistance will be available to states regardless of their experience with the integrated planning process. EPA’s technical assistance can include:
- Walking through EPA’s Integrated Planning Toolkit with your staff
- Prioritizing prime candidate permittees based on state-specified criteria
- Facilitating an in-person or virtual “Getting Started” workshop with permittees
- Reviewing submitted integrated plans to help with completeness check
- Assisting permittees who have indicated to the permitting authority they intend to develop an integrated plan
EPA’s Integrated Planning Toolkit can be found on the Implementation Documents webpage.
For municipalities, technical assistance for permittees can be requested in two ways:
- Candidate permittee that is identified by a state receiving technical assistance
- Individual permittee requesting technical assistance
EPA can provide municipalities assistance with:
- Researching and Summarizing Clean Water Act Drivers and Requirements
- Developing a Stakeholder Outreach Plan
- Developing criteria to use in a Contractor Scope of Work
- Exploring Funding Options
- Facilitating meetings to identify goals, objectives, and/or metrics
- Developing an Integrated Planning Workgroup and Schedule of Milestones
- Facilitating External Stakeholder Meetings
Learn more about EPA’s Integrated Planning Fact Sheets.
If you are interested in requesting Technical Assistance, please email Heather Huddle (huddle.heather@epa.gov) by August 31, 2023.
Past Technical Assistance
In 2020, EPA provided technical assistance to states and municipalities through collaboration with the Environmental Finance Centers (EFCs) at the University of Maryland and University of North Carolina. The assistance focused on getting started with Integrated Planning and included facilitating three webcasts:
- Communities in New Jersey, Getting Started: Integrated Planning Community Workshop for Small to Medium-Sized Municipalities
- EFC Integrated Planning Peer-to-Peer exchange for municipalities
- Introducing EPA’s Integrated Planning Element Four – Analyzing and Prioritizing Projects
In addition, technical assistance included a case study report: Leveraging the Integrated Planning Framework for Advancing Climate Resilience and Environmental Justice.
In 2016, EPA provided technical assistance to five communities to develop elements of integrated plans for municipal wastewater and stormwater management:
- Burlington, Vermont – The city of Burlington developed community-based evaluation criteria based on social, economic, and environmental factors to identify and prioritize potential wastewater, stormwater, and combined sewer system projects.
- Durham, New Hampshire – The town of Durham and the University of New Hampshire developed an integrated plan using information on pollution tracking and accounting systems to focus on cross-jurisdictional coordination and methods to credit point versus nonpoint pollution controls.
- Durham, New Hampshire's Integrated Plan (PDF)(69 pp, 2.6 MB, About PDF)
- Onondaga County, New York – The Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection worked with multiple municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) and other stakeholders, developed priorities, and evaluated proposed wastewater and stormwater projects.
- Santa Maria, California – The city of Santa Maria developed methods to identify, evaluate, and select water resource management projects that address multiple wastewater, stormwater, and other water quality issues.
- Springfield, Missouri – The city of Springfield, Greene County, and City Utilities of Springfield developed a benefits analysis of water resources to use for integrated planning.
Resources
In addition to supporting these community planning efforts, the projects resulted in three reports that provide practical examples and transferable tools to communities that are interested in integrated planning. The reports and related supporting documents below focus on three main themes: public outreach and engagement, prioritizing projects, and characterizing the value of water to inform decision-making.
- Using Stakeholder Input to Evaluate and Rank Alternatives (EXCEL) (xlsx) - This spreadsheet tool can be used by communities to evaluate and rank project alternatives based on community-defined goals and priorities.
- Public Outreach for Integrated Wastewater and Stormwater Planning (pdf)
- Prioritizing Wastewater and Stormwater Projects Using Stakeholder Input (pdf)
- Integrated Planning: Characterizing the Value of Water to Inform Decision-Making (pdf)
- Estimating the Value of Water: A Literature Review (pdf)
- Estimating Users of Water Resources: Springfield–Greene County Data Collection Plan (pdf)