Environmental Loans June 2025 Newsletter
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR)’s Environmental Loans programs provide affordable financial assistance to Wisconsin communities for water infrastructure projects that protect and improve public health and water quality for current and future generations.
2024 Financial Audit Reminder
This is a friendly reminder regarding your Environmental Improvement Fund (EIF) loan agreement. As outlined in the agreement, audited financial statements must be submitted within 180 days of the end of each fiscal year. Since the municipal fiscal year ended on Dec. 31, 2024, the deadline to submit your 2024 audit to the EIF is June 30, 2025.
If you haven’t already, please email your audited financial statements to DOAEIF@wisconsin.gov. Also, ensure your auditor includes the EIF on the distribution list when the audit is finalized.
Note: If your municipality does not conduct an audit, please send your 2024 sewer/water utility financial statements – including the balance sheet and income/expense statements – to the same email address.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this requirement.
Reminder: Market Rate Increase Effective July 1
This is a reminder that the market rates for the Clean Water Fund Program and Safe Drinking Water Loan Program loans with municipal meetings (resolutions approving the municipal obligations and the financial assistance agreements) on or after July 1, 2025, will increase. For more information about the rate increases, please review the June 6, 2025 New Market And Interest Rates bulletin.
The Lead Service Line Replacement Program interest rate is not tied to the current market rate and is instead set at 0.25% . Learn about market rates and program-subsidized interest rates on the DNR’s Interest Rates webpage.
Please direct any market or interest rate questions or concerns to the DOA Capital Finance Office at DOAEIF@Wisconsin.gov.
Responses To Public Comments On State Fiscal Year 2026 Safe Drinking Water Loan Program Draft Intended Use Plan Available
A public comment period for the draft State Fiscal Year 2026 Safe Drinking Water Loan Program Intended Use Plan opened on April 8, 2025, and closed on May 23, 2025. The comments and the corresponding responses were published to the DNR’s Project Lists and Intended Use Plans webpage on June 13, 2025. We appreciate the engagement we received, and the patience commenters have shown while awaiting responses.
Change To New Two-Pass Allocation For Lead Service Line Principal Forgiveness
The draft Safe Drinking Water Loan Program intended use plan described a new two-pass allocation process for private side lead service line replacement principal forgiveness. This process would involve a first pass down the list, in priority score order, with a per municipality cap of 25% of the available principal forgiveness. If principal forgiveness funds still remain after the first pass, a second pass would be made without a cap.
Several comments were received regarding this proposed new two-pass allocation process. After consideration of these comments and further discussion, a decision was made to slightly modify the process. We will still utilize the two-pass allocation process with an initial 25% cap, but for any municipality whose water distribution system contains greater than 25% of the statewide total of lead service lines, their cap will be equal to their percentage of the statewide lead service line total.
The statewide lead service line total and each municipality’s percentage of that total will be derived from the inventories submitted to the DNR as required by the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions and approved by the DNR as of the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program application deadline. Total lead service lines include galvanized service lines that are or have previously been downstream of lead components (galvanized requiring replacement or GRR).
This change will be reflected in the final state fiscal year 2026 Safe Drinking Water Loan Program intended use plan that will be posted on the DNR’s Project Lists and Intended Use Plans webpage.
Program information is available on the DNR’s BIL-Funded Lead Service Line Replacement Program webpage.
Changes To Lead Service Line Replacement Program Priority Scoring Criteria And Form
Criteria Updates
The DNR made changes to the priority evaluation and ranking formula (PERF) criteria for the state fiscal year 2026 Lead Service Line (LSL) Replacement Program financial assistance applications.
Changes to the LSL PERF criteria include the following:
- Addition of a new category where points are awarded based on the percentage of lead service lines in a system. The data comes from the inventories required by the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR).
- Points are no longer awarded for project type (replacement or inventory).
- Points are no longer awarded for enacting a mandatory ordinance.
- Points are no longer awarded for matching grants.
Additional information is available in the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program State Fiscal Year 2026 Intended Use Plan.
Form Updates
The DNR Environmental Loans Section updated its LSL Replacement Program PERF Form 8700-383 to reflect the scoring changes and released it on June 2, 2025. The new version of this form should be used going forward.
In Section I of the form, we changed the “Unique Entity ID (UEI)” field to “Municipality’s EIF Project #.”
We made multiple changes to the format of Section II. Now new fields pop open when certain selections are made, allowing more specific data to be entered.
- When the box is checked for “Private LSL Replacements” and/or “Public LSL Replacements,” new fields open and ask for the number of lead service lines for each type of replacement.
- Furthermore, when census tract scoring is selected, a new option asks whether to weight the scoring by census tract population or by number of lead service lines to be replaced in the census tract. Additional fields become available that allow entry for the census tract number and number of lead service lines, when relevant selections are made.
As a reminder, the LSL PERF form must be submitted with the application for lead service line projects in order for the application to be considered complete. If this form is not submitted, the application will receive a priority score of zero. Review the updated LSL PERF form before sending in an application.
Resources
Additional program information is available on the DNR’s BIL-Funded Lead Service Line Replacement Program webpage.
Please reach out to our LSL Replacement Program specialists with any questions:
Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Form Updated
The DNR Environmental Loans Section recently made minor updates to its “Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) Contacts Worksheet” and released it on May 30, 2025.
We renamed this form to “DBE Direct Solicitation Worksheet” and kept its form number (Form 8700-294a).
We changed the “EIF Project Number” field to “Project Title” because the project number may not be assigned by the DNR or known by the applicant when this form is completed.
We replaced the “On DOT UCP list?” question with the “Certifying list or agency (e.g., WisDOT)” field because applicants have solicited DBEs certified through an unacceptable DBE program. This change will allow us to more easily verify whether the DBE is acceptable or not.
Learn how to comply with this federal requirement on the DNR’s Disadvantaged Business Requirements webpage.
Welcome, Jenny Kilps
Please join us in welcoming Jenny Kilps to the Environmental Loans team! Jenny started on June 2, 2025, in the IT business relationship manager role that Suzy Hasheider previously held. Contact Jenny at Jennifer.Kilps@wisconsin.gov or 608-228-8422.
Jenny will be responsible for maintaining the Environmental Loans Online Systems (ELOS), which are used for submitting the Clean Water Fund Program and the Safe Drinking Water Loan Program financial assistance applications and notices of intent to apply with priority evaluation and ranking formula information. Additionally, Jenny will be working with the DNR IT team to manage IT projects, as well as fulfilling other business relationship manager duties.
Here is an introduction from Jenny in her own words:
Hi everyone, my name is Jenny, and I am excited to join the DNR Team! I have a professional background in IT, with the last three years specifically focused on Human Resources IT. My primary experience involves implementing new technology solutions, platforms, and processes. Most recently, I worked for American Family Insurance as a Product Owner for the HR platform Workday, where I served as a liaison between internal customers and the technical team. At the beginning of my career, I worked at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, where I implemented a new project management platform for their water treatment and construction projects.
I have lived in Madison since graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but I grew up just outside of Milwaukee. I love to travel, and I recently visited Banff National Park in Canada. I enjoy outdoor activities; I often ride my bike on the Monona Lake loop and regularly play volleyball and golf. Whenever I get the chance, I head up to my family cabin in Northern Wisconsin to fish, waterski, and snowmobile in the winter. I look forward to working with all of you!
Photo Credit: Mariane Bivar
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Upcoming Deadlines And Events
The deadlines for the notice of intent to apply, application and loan closing are set in the corresponding program's annual intended use plan, see the Project Lists and Intended Use Plans webpage.
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June 26: Requests for disbursements are due to the DNR at noon on Thursday, June 26 to be paid on the disbursement date of Wednesday, July 9 (schedule adjusted for Independence Day).
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June 27: At 11 a.m., the DNR will host a webinar to discuss changes in the state fiscal year 2026 Clean Water Fund Program draft intended use plan and respond to questions from attendees.
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June 30: Application deadline if competing for principal forgiveness for the state fiscal year 2026 Safe Drinking Water Loan Program funding cycle. The DNR recommends that all applicants (even those not competing for principal forgiveness) submit an application by the June 30 deadline due to potential limitations on loan capacity. See the Loan Capacity webpage for more information. Note the following reminders:
- Plans and specifications must be uploaded to the online application and submitted to the DNR Bureau of Drinking Water and Groundwater through the public water system plan review process by the application deadline.
- The period to submit either an appeal to an eligibility determination or a priority score reevaluation request opens the day after the application deadline and runs for a period of 30 days (July 1 through July 30).
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June 30: Readiness-to-proceed deadline for the state fiscal year 2025 Clean Water Fund Program principal forgiveness projects. All required bid documentation, including executed construction contracts, are due. Failure to meet this deadline will result in principal forgiveness funds being forfeited.
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July 21: The last date to submit written comments on the state fiscal year 2026 Clean Water Fund Program draft intended use plan to Casey.Sweeney@wisconsin.gov.
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Aug. 28: Requests for disbursements are due to the DNR at noon on Thursday, Aug. 28 to be paid on the disbursement date of Wednesday, Sept. 10 (schedule adjusted for Labor Day).
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Sept. 24: Final loan closing date for the state fiscal year 2025 Safe Drinking Water Loan Program projects.
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Sept. 30: Application deadline if competing for principal forgiveness for the state fiscal year 2026 Clean Water Fund Program funding cycle. The DNR recommends that all applicants (even those not competing for principal forgiveness) submit an application by the Sept. 30 deadline due to potential limitations on loan capacity. See the Loan Capacity webpage for more information. Note the following reminders:
- A facility plan approval letter must be uploaded to the online application for all projects.
- Plans and specifications must be uploaded to the online application and submitted to the DNR Bureau of Water Quality through the wastewater plan review process by the application deadline.
- The period to submit a priority score reevaluation request opens the day after the application deadline and runs for a period of 30 days (Oct. 1 through Oct. 30).
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Sept. 30: Last recommended date for submitting rate case applications to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for the state fiscal year 2026 Safe Drinking Water Loan Program projects.
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September 2025: The DNR intends to publish the state fiscal year 2026 Safe Drinking Water Loan Program draft funding list.
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Oct. 30: Requests for disbursements are due to the DNR at noon on Thursday, Oct. 30 to be paid on the disbursement date of Wednesday, Nov. 12 (schedule adjusted for Veterans Day).
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Oct. 31: Notice of intent to apply deadline for the state fiscal year 2027 Clean Water Fund Program and Safe Drinking Water Loan Program funding cycles. Note: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL, also known as Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [IIJA]) is meant to provide additional funding in state fiscal years 2023-2027. For details, see the DNR’s BIL Funding webpage.
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November 2025: The DNR intends to publish the state fiscal year 2026 Safe Drinking Water Loan Program final funding list.
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December 2025: The DNR intends to publish the state fiscal year 2026 Clean Water Fund Program funding list.
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Dec. 11: Requests for disbursements are due to the DNR at noon on Thursday, Dec. 11 to be paid on the disbursement date of Tuesday, Dec. 23 (schedule adjusted for Christmas Day). Note: No loan closings will occur on Dec. 23.
Newsletter Sign Up
For timely delivery of future newsletters and bulletins, please send an email request with your contact information to Kay Christensen, DNR Environmental Loans Section outreach coordinator, at Kay.Christensen@Wisconsin.gov. She will add you to the email distribution list. If you want, she can also remove you from this list.
The DNR Environmental Loans Section tries to publish a newsletter every 1-2 months. Previous newsletters and bulletins are available on our News webpage.
Note: You can also sign up to receive updates from the Wisconsin DNR on diverse topics.
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