Needs Category: The categorization of capital investment project types that can be funded through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and included in the CWNS. CWNS categories generally follow the Clean Water State Revolving Fund funding categories. For detailed definitions of the categories, see Appendix D of the
Report to Congress.
Infrastructure Type: Used to categorize groups of facility types based on pollution mitigation measures. Infrastructure types are wastewater, stormwater, nonpoint source, and decentralized wastewater treatment.
Wastewater: A system consisting of collection sewers and/or a treatment plant used to collect and treat wastewater from a service area. When publicly owned, such systems are referred to as publicly owned treatment works (POTWs).
Stormwater: Infrastructure used to collect, convey, treat, or infiltrate stormwater (rainwater or melted snow that runs off streets, lawns, and other sites). Includes both gray and green infrastructure.
Nonpoint source: Infrastructure used to manage and/or treat NPS pollution (any source of water pollution that does not meet the legal definition of "point source"). It generally results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, seepage, or hydrologic modification.
Decentralized wastewater treatment: A system relying on natural processes and/or mechanical components to collect, treat, and disperse or reclaim wastewater from a single dwelling or building or a wastewater collection and treatment system under some form of common ownership that collects wastewater from two or more dwellings or buildings and conveys it to a treatment and dispersal system on a suitable site near the dwellings or buildings. For the purposes of the CWNS, decentralized systems may be on-site (individual) or clustered; clustered systems may include multifamily on-site systems or package plants.
