Grants & Loans
The Illinois EPA provides financial assistance for certain land, air, water, and energy related projects. Those programs include:
Brownfields Financial Help – Illinois EPA offers financial help for brownfield site investigations and cleanups.
Underground Storage Tank Fund –The Illinois EPA provides assistance to tank owners and operators to help pay for cleaning up leaks from petroleum underground storage tanks.
Driving a Cleaner Illinois - Driving a Cleaner Illinois is the Illinois EPA’s grant program developed to distribute funding for various types of diesel emission reduction projects involving on-road vehicles, off-road equipment, and electric charging. The Driving a Cleaner Illinois Program receives funding from a variety of sources, including the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) Program, and Federal Highway Administration’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program.
Unsewered Communities - The Illinois EPA offers two grant programs to assist communities with inadequate or nonexistent wastewater collection and treatment facilities.
Lead Service Line Inventory - The Illinois EPA offers a grant program to assist communities in meeting the inventory requirements outlined in the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act (LSLRNA).
Residential Sharps Collection Program - The Illinois EPA provides funding to units of local government that operate a sharps collection station, as defined in Section 3.158 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act, for expenses incurred in collection, storing, and disposing of used sharps.
Water Quality Grants – The Illinois EPA manages several programs that offer grants to help implement local water projects.
Wastewater/Stormwater and Drinking Water Loans – The Illinois EPA provides low interest loans through the State Revolving Fund (SRF), which includes two loan programs:
- The Water Pollution Control Loan Program for wastewater and stormwater projects; and
- The Public Water Supply Loan Program for drinking water projects.
No Cost Public Water Infrastructure Energy Assessments - The Illinois EPA partners with the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center and Illinois Sustainable Technology Center to offer no cost energy efficiency assessment at wastewater treamtent and public water supply facilities.
Low Income Residential Energy Efficiency - The Illinois EPA offers grants from the Energy Efficiency Trust Fund to benefit energy efficiency improvements to single or multi-family residential properties managed by public housing authorities, units of local government, or nonprofit organizations.
Other Funding Opportunities:
Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation
- Net Zero Energy Wastewater Treatment Program - Awards grants to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) committed to achieving site net zero energy (NZE) performance, or better.
Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
- Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program - Assists Illinois communities that do not receive a HUD direct entitlement allocation with meeting their greatest economic and community development needs.