Many Ohioans have struggled to make ends meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. The State of Ohio has developed a program to provide $465 million in federal funding to help low-income Ohioans who do not own their own homes pay their rent and utility bills. House Bill 167 builds on the Home Relief Grant program that the DeWine Administration created last fall with a $111 million allocation in federal coronavirus relief funding.

The Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program (WRRSP) uses interest monies from Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) loan sponsor projects to fund preservation and restoration of aquatic habitat. Since 2000, more than $222 million has been awarded for 170 projects to protect and preserve some of Ohio’s highest water quality resources.

Ohio is facing aging environmental infrastructure, rising construction costs, increased focus on asset management, strained local budgets for operations and maintenance, and increasing water and wastewater user charges for residential customers.

Ohio EPA has finalized the 2021 WPCLF Program Management Plan. The fund provides financial and technical assistance for a variety of projects that help improve or protect the quality of Ohio’s water resources.

Ohio EPA's Recycling and Litter Prevention program (R&LP) provides grant funding to communities, local governments, academic institutions, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and state agencies to establish and implement recycling, market development, litter prevention, and scrap tire recycling programs.

H2Ohio is Governor Mike DeWine’s comprehensive, data-driven water quality plan to reduce harmful algal blooms, improve wastewater infrastructure, and prevent lead contamination.

On Oct. 4, 2019, the federal Water Infrastructure Funding Transfer Act (WIFTA) was passed into law. Under WIFTA, Ohio EPA was able to transfer up to five percent of the cumulative capitalization grants from its Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF), to its Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, the Drinking Water Assistance Fund (DWAF) to be used as principal forgiveness for projects that address exposure to lead in drinking water.

Governor DeWine’s H2Ohio plan is a comprehensive and data-driven approach to reduce harmful algal blooms, improve wastewater and water infrastructure, and prevent lead contamination.

Lead is a common, natural, toxic, and often useful metal that was used for years in products around the home and in the construction industry.

Ohio EPA continues to strongly support drinking water regionalization projects and comprehensive lead service line (LSL) replacement projects by offering incentives such as principal forgiveness and zero-percent interest loans.