Planning, Prevention, & Assistance Division
Goals & Objectives for the 2013 Biennium
Provide technical and financial assistance in the form of engineering review, grants, and loans to small businesses, community water systems, watershed citizens' groups, and conservation districts; develop and implement water quality protection plans that restore impaired waterways and protect community water supplies.
- Bureaus
Water Quality Planning Bureau
- Develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) over the next two years, following the 2012 scheduled pace, and submit them to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for federal approval.
- Provide financial assistance to local governments to participate in the development of approved TMDLs. Assist local stakeholders with the implementation of approved TMDLs.
- Assist and support statewide citizen volunteer water quality monitoring of lakes and streams, through training and participation as per the State Non-Point Source Plan.
- Assist with development of TMDLs by conducting statewide assessments of streams and lakes, revising the Clean Water Act’s 303(d) Montana impaired waters list, conducting intensive surveys of pollution causes and sources, developing pollution allocations, identifying pollution control alternatives, and evaluating effectiveness of control measures.
- Perform a biennial statewide water quality assessment and contribute to the development of the Montana 303(d) and 305(b) reports.
- Review and update Montana’s water quality standards to insure full support of beneficial uses such as drinking water, agriculture, fisheries, wildlife, and industrial uses.
- Support the development of water quality criteria and water quality standards revisions through sampling design, data collection, and assessment.
- Develop, maintain, and administer data management systems for the storage and processing of water quality metric data associated with federal and state-funded activities in an effort to support water quality assessments and investigations.
Technical & Financial Assistance Bureau
- Manage the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program to provide low interest loan financing for drinking water treatment system construction and improvement.
- Provide technical assistance and training efforts to public water systems, including communities whose systems have chronic violations that threaten public health, communities requesting help to correct operation and maintenance problems or to develop needed water system improvement projects, and communities whose systems will benefit from regularly scheduled visits designed to enhance the system’s fiscal, managerial, and technical capability.
- Manage water system construction and improvement projects funded through the State and Tribal Assistance Grant Program.
- Provide engineering review of drinking water system improvements necessary to ensure safe, reliable, high-quality water supplies.
- Ensure that all new community and non-transient non-community public water supply systems and all systems receiving Drinking Water SRF loans have the necessary technical, financial, and managerial capability to comply with the primary requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
- Delineate sources, direction, and flow of ground and surface waters that supply public drinking water wells and intakes; assess potential threats to these source waters; compile data; and provide results to the public.
- Develop and implement the Montana Wetland Program through education, technical assistance, and grants for local governments.
- Educate Montanans on benefits of conserving wetlands for water quality, water quantity, habitat, and flood control purposes; and develop a statewide strategy to understand, protect, sustain, and enhance Montana wetlands through a collaborative process with agencies and citizens. Facilitate Wetland Council meetings, one wetland monitoring and assessment meeting, and four technical/coordination meetings each year.
- Manage the Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund Program, which offers low-interest loans for wastewater system construction and improvements and for related water pollution control projects.
- Manage wastewater system construction and improvement projects funded through the State and Tribal Assistance Grant Program.
- Assist local governments in establishing and supporting local water quality districts to protect, maintain, and improve water quality through technical assistance and annual monitoring.
Energy & Pollution Prevention Bureau
- Provide technical assistance to small businesses on pollution prevention and environmental management through site visits, workshops, and a toll-free hotline.
- Increase the amount of recycling, reuse, and composting of solid waste by citizens, businesses, and governments through technical assistance and education.
- Provide analysis, technical support, and recommendations on energy and pollution prevention issues, including energy assurance planning to local, state, and federal decision makers.
- Assist consumers and small businesses to reduce energy use and costs through technical assistance and education.
- Reduce energy use in state agencies by providing financial assistance for capital improvements in state owned buildings and by providing technical assistance on building energy use.
- Increase the use of renewable energy in Montana both for cost effective applications, and to condition the market for future renewable energy development. Provide loans to consumers and small businesses for renewable energy applications. Provide technical assistance for renewable energy use for energy generation and transportation fuels. Provide technical and financial assistance to a small number of energy demonstration projects.
- Reduce energy use in local government buildings and facilities through one-time grants and technical assistance.
