Purpose, policy, and applicability.

§ 35.3500 Purpose, policy, and applicability. (a) This subpart codifies and implements requirements for the national Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program under section 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended in 1996. It applies to States ( i.e., each of the 50 States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) which receive capitalization grants and are authorized to establish a Fund under section 1452. The purpose of this subpart is to ensure that each State's program is designed and operated in such a manner as to further the public health protection objectives of the Safe Drinking Water Act, promote the efficient use of all funds, and ensure that the Fund corpus is available in perpetuity for providing financial assistance to public water systems. (b) This subpart supplements section 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act by codifying statutory and program requirements that were published in the Final Guidelines for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program (EPA 816–R–97–005) signed by the Assistant Administrator for Water on February 28, 1997, as well as in subsequent policies. This subpart also supplements EPA general assistance regulations in 2 CFR parts 200 and 1500 which contain administrative requirements that apply to governmental recipients of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants and subgrants. EPA will not impose additional major program requirements without providing an opportunity for affected parties to comment. (c) EPA intends to implement the national Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program in a manner that preserves for States a high degree of flexibility to operate their programs in accordance with each State's unique needs and circumstances. To the maximum extent practicable, EPA also intends to administer the financial aspects of the national Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program in a manner that is consistent with the policies and procedures of the national Clean Water State Revolving Fund program established under Title VI of the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1381–1387. [65 FR 48299, Aug. 7, 2000, as amended at 79 FR 76057, Dec. 19, 2014]