---
title: what the state revolving fund can already pay for
canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/what-the-state-revolving-fund-can-already-pay-for
markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/what-the-state-revolving-fund-can-already-pay-for.md
subtitle: the clean water state revolving fund already lends for green infrastructure. it builds the bed. it does not keep the soil alive or count the heat
category: how-to
---

# what the state revolving fund can already pay for

*the clean water state revolving fund already lends for green infrastructure. it builds the bed. it does not keep the soil alive or count the heat*

The **clean water state revolving fund** (CWSRF) is a low-interest loan program for water quality infrastructure, and it can already pay for green infrastructure. In Massachusetts it is run by the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust and MassDEP. The state's stormwater funding list names stormwater planning, the design and construction of best management practices (BMPs), green infrastructure among them, and stormwater utilities as eligible uses. The applicants are municipalities and districts. A city that wants rain gardens, porous pavement or tree boxes on a street can already borrow for them.

What the loan does not do is keep the soil working for fifty years, or count the heat.

In Chelsea, the living things in question are the street trees, the soil under them that takes the rain, and the Mill Creek marsh downstream. They cool, drain and clean these blocks whether or not anyone buys a certificate. Ensurance is how the people who depend on that work can fund it, not what it is.

## what the clean water state revolving fund is

Each state runs one. EPA sends a capitalization grant, the state adds its match, and the fund lends at below-market rates. Repayments come back into the fund and go out again as new loans. That is the "revolving" part: the money is lent, not spent once.

In Massachusetts the Trust and MassDEP administer it together. On 7 October 2026 the Trust approved **$80.1 million** in new grants and loans across drinking water, wastewater and stormwater projects. Most of it, **$65.7 million**, went to clean water projects such as a treatment plant upgrade in Gloucester. The stormwater and cybersecurity grants on that list came to **$300,000**. Stormwater is eligible. In that round it was the smallest line.

## what it can already pay for

| what a city can borrow for | what that looks like on a hot block |
|---|---|
| **Stormwater planning** | Mapping where a street sheds water and where soil could take it back |
| **BMP design** | Sizing a bioretention cell, a stormwater planter or a run of porous pavement |
| **BMP construction, including green infrastructure** | Building it: the bed, the soil mix, the plants, the curb cuts |
| **Stormwater utilities** | The utility that funds the system over time, listed by the state as an eligible use |

EPA's own stormwater material for the CWSRF gives bioretention, rain gardens, curb bump-outs and tree boxes as examples of green infrastructure the fund can finance. EPA also published *Financing Green Infrastructure: A Best Practices Guide for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund* in 2015. It sorts what states do into four groups: outreach, prioritization, financial incentives and financing mechanisms. The tools for steering this money toward soil and plants already exist and have been written down.

There is also a **green project reserve**. Since federal appropriations for fiscal year 2012, Congress has asked each state, where there are enough eligible applications, to put at least a set share of its CWSRF capitalization grant toward green projects. That share has been 10%. Green infrastructure is one of four categories that count. The share for any given year is set in the state's **Intended Use Plan**; check the current one before you plan around it.

## why chelsea is the case

About **80%** of Chelsea is sealed: roof, street, lot. The Mill Creek project subwatershed alone is about **60%** impervious, and the city's own report counts about **twenty acres** of salt marsh left at the bottom of it. GreenRoots stewards the restoration there. A survey in 2019 found **eight** marsh species in the lower cells, against a healthy benchmark of twenty or more.

Rain the street does not take ends up in a pipe or on that marsh. A city street in Chelsea is rebuilt on a short replacement cycle. That is the moment a loan for pervious pavement and planted beds fits. The surface is being rebuilt anyway.

A design model done for the city's resilience planning estimated that cutting sealed ground by 25% could lower air temperature by up to **3.0°F** on a 95°F day. That is a model, not a measurement. But it says the same street project that holds water could also cool the block.

:::johnson
**the money is already lent for pipes. the soil is a pipe that grows.** The revolving fund can build the bed and plant it. Funding the decades after the ribbon is cut is the part the loan leaves open.

[see the water cycle agent →](/water-cycle.syndicate?from=guide)
:::

## what the loan does not pay for

**Upkeep.** EPA's overview of CWSRF eligibilities says the fund cannot pay for ongoing operation and maintenance, though planning and design for capital projects can be funded. Some older EPA material reads more loosely, so confirm with the state program. Plan as if the loan builds the bioretention cell and someone else keeps it alive.

**The tree's life.** A loan has a term. A street tree runs on a 50 to 100 year cycle, and most of its value comes late, after the canopy fills out. The loan is paid off while the tree is still young.

**The heat.** Heat is not a CWSRF eligibility category. A rain garden that cools the sidewalk qualifies because it holds water. The cooling rides along, uncounted. Electric distribution capital on hot feeders, heat illness and asthma visits sit on other people's books: the utility's, the hospital's, the household's. [The canopy post](/guide/who-pays-for-the-canopy-on-a-hot-block?from=guide) walks those ledgers.

**Private roofs.** The Massachusetts program lists municipalities and districts as applicants, and a white roof is a heat measure, not a stormwater one. A white roof on Broadway is not what this loan is for.

## what each part is worth, and what it costs

Two sets of numbers sit side by side here. Keep them apart.

| | figure | what it is |
|---|---|---|
| Bioretention, value | **$2.83** per sq ft of bed per year, **$1.80** of it stormwater | FEMA, 2021 dollars |
| Permeable pavement, value | **$0.64** per sq ft per year, **$0.51** stormwater | FEMA, 2021 dollars |
| One urban tree, value | **$1,048.86** per year, **$20.17** stormwater | FEMA, 2021 dollars. **$910.28** is heat illness, mostly the value of a statistical life |
| Bioretention, cost | **$15.46** per cubic foot | EPA Region 1 Opti-Tool, 2016. Cost to build, not value |
| Porous asphalt, cost | **$5.32** per cubic foot | Same |

The FEMA books are per square foot of bed, per square foot of pavement and per tree. They do not add. What the table shows is narrower: the stormwater line is the slice a CWSRF loan is built around, and on a tree it is the smallest slice.

## how the loan and the policy fit together

The loan and a policy do different jobs.

The loan builds. A **policy** carries the rest. When the titleholder of a street, a rain garden or a tree cooperates, that parcel can become a policy under ensurance: heat, water and air routed as proceeds inside that one policy, paid out to the people who keep the parcel working. The city is the titleholder on its own streets, so the unit is per street segment. Proceeds would fund the upkeep the loan cannot touch, and the monitoring that proves the bed still holds water.

The buyers are the books that carry the uncounted ledgers: stormwater capital, electric distribution capital, hospital heat-illness costs. A regional heat-and-stormwater line, named for its buyer rather than for one city, is the intended vessel. It is **not minted**: `massachusetts heat and stormwater` is coming soon under `urban-heat.syndicate`, and you can [co-create it](/specific/create?mode=suggest&agent=urban-heat.syndicate&name=massachusetts%20heat%20and%20stormwater&from=guide). Theme lines can buy the same policies once one is signed: [urban heat](/urban-heat.syndicate?from=guide), [water cycle](/water-cycle.syndicate?from=guide) and [clean air](/clean-air.ensurance?from=guide).

Plainly, our side: no Chelsea titleholder has signed a policy, no payor has committed, and the parcel screen that would pick the first streets is designed and has not run.

## frequently asked questions

### is green infrastructure eligible for the clean water state revolving fund?

Yes. EPA lists green infrastructure among CWSRF eligibilities, and Massachusetts lists BMP design and construction, including green infrastructure, as eligible stormwater uses. Green infrastructure also counts toward the federal green project reserve.

### who can borrow in massachusetts?

Municipalities and districts, per MassDEP's stormwater funding list. That list does not include a private building owner.

### can a cwsrf loan pay to maintain a rain garden?

Generally not. EPA's eligibility overview excludes ongoing operation and maintenance. Confirm with MassDEP for your project, and plan a separate source for upkeep.

### is heat resilience an srf category?

No. A project qualifies for what it does for water. Any cooling is a side benefit the loan does not count.

### how is this different from a stormwater fee?

A fee is recurring revenue from property owners. [The fee post](/guide/what-a-stormwater-utility-fee-is-paying-for?from=guide) covers it. A CWSRF loan is capital the city repays. The two can work together: the state lists stormwater utilities as an eligible CWSRF use. For the wider federal menu, see [municipal stormwater green infrastructure funding](/guide/municipal-stormwater-green-infrastructure-funding?from=guide).

## next steps

If you run a city's streets or stormwater: pick the next street on its replacement cycle and ask what share of it could be soil. That is the loan application. Then ask who keeps the bed alive in year twelve. That is the policy. [Governments](/solutions/governments?from=guide&topic=chelsea-heat) lists what we bring to a city; [utilities](/solutions/utilities?from=guide&topic=chelsea-heat) shows the same parcels from a distribution planner's chair.

The regional natural asset analysis and the valuation are on [our services page](/services?from=guide#finance) with their price ranges. Or [talk to us](/contact?from=guide&topic=chelsea-heat) about one street.

## sources

- [Mass.gov, available funding for stormwater projects in Massachusetts](https://www.mass.gov/service-details/available-funding-for-stormwater-projects-in-massachusetts): CWSRF stormwater uses and applicants
- [MassDEP, stormwater funding matrix](https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/10/20/stormwater-funding-matrix.pdf): planning, BMP design and construction, stormwater utilities; municipalities and districts
- [Mass.gov, Clean Water State Revolving Fund program](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/srf-clean-water-program): the Trust and MassDEP administer it jointly
- [Mass.gov, Clean Water Trust approves $80.1 million at its October meeting](https://www.mass.gov/news/clean-water-trust-approves-801-million-in-new-grants-and-loans-at-its-october-meeting) and [WaterWorld, "Massachusetts approves $80M for water infrastructure projects"](https://www.waterworld.com/water-utility-management/news/55411095/massachusetts-approves-80m-for-water-infrastructure-projects): the 7 October 2026 round
- [EPA, Financing Green Infrastructure: A Best Practices Guide for the CWSRF (2015)](https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-01/documents/final_gi_best_practices_guide_12-9-15.pdf): four groups of state practice
- [EPA, funding stormwater management with the CWSRF](https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/sites/static/files/2016-11/documents/funding_stormwater_management_with_the_clean_water_state_revolving_fund.pdf): bioretention, rain gardens, bump-outs, tree boxes
- [EPA, overview of CWSRF eligibilities (May 2016)](https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/sites/static/files/2016-07/documents/overview_of_cwsrf_eligibilities_may_2016.pdf): no ongoing operation and maintenance
- [Congressional Research Service, IN10540, the green project reserve](https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/IN10540.html): the 10% share since FY2012
- [EPA, green project reserve guidance for the CWSRF](https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/cwsrf/green-project-reserve-guidance-clean-water-state-revolving-fund-cwsrf_.html): the four categories
- [High-Profile, mitigating the urban heat island effect in Chelsea](https://www.high-profile.com/mitigating-the-urban-heat-island-effect-in-chelsea/): 80% impervious (citing the city's heat work) and the design model
- [City of Chelsea, Volume II, Mill Creek water quality improvement project](https://cms5.revize.com/revize/chelseama/Document_Center/Departments/Housing%20&%20Community%20Development/Environment%20and%20Climate%20Resilience/volume_ii_-_mill_creek_water_quality_improvement_project.pdf): about twenty acres of salt marsh
- [Horsley Witten, Mill Creek restoration assessments, 2019](https://cms5.revize.com/revize/chelseama/Document_Center/Departments/Housing%20&%20Community%20Development/Environment%20and%20Climate%20Resilience/mill_creek_restoration_assessments_-_horsley_witten_-_20190715.pdf): marsh species and 60% impervious subwatershed
- [EPA Region 1, green infrastructure stormwater BMP cost estimation, 2016](https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2025-11/green-infrastructure-stormwater-bmp-cost-estimation-2016.pdf): the Opti-Tool cost basis
- [FEMA, economic benefit values for green infrastructure](https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_bca_economic-values-green-infrastructure_2025.pdf): per-tree, per-square-foot values, 2021 dollars

## the series

1. [what a hot block in chelsea depends on](/guide/what-a-hot-block-in-chelsea-depends-on?from=guide)
2. [a white roof is not a tree](/guide/a-white-roof-is-not-a-tree?from=guide)
3. **what the state revolving fund can already pay for** (you are here)
4. [cool one street at a time](/guide/cool-one-street-at-a-time?from=guide)
5. [zoning tells the roof what to be](/guide/zoning-tells-the-roof-what-to-be?from=guide)
6. [who pays for heat resilience, by the parcel](/guide/who-pays-for-heat-resilience-by-the-parcel?from=guide)