This Request for Applications (RFA) is issued pursuant to Section 319(h) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which authorizes EPA to award grants to eligible tribes and intertribal consortia to implement approved NPS management programs developed pursuant to Section 319(b)(1) “for controlling pollution

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added from nonpoint sources to the navigable waters” and “improving the quality of such waters.” NPS management programs must identify “best management practices and measures which will be undertaken to reduce pollutant loadings resulting from each category, subcategory, or particular nonpoint source” identified in the tribe’s NPS assessment report developed pursuant to Section 319(a).After allocating Section 319 tribal funds for tribal base grant work plans, EPA allocates the remaining Section 319 tribal funds to eligible entities according to the competitive procedures in this RFA.

This competitive funding will support tribal efforts to develop and/or implement watershed-based plans and implement watershed projects that will result in significant steps towards addressing NPS water quality impairments or threats on a watershed-wide basis.