CWNS Small Community Form
On this page:
- Videos about the CWNS and the Small Community Form
- Why the CWNS is Important and How to Complete the Small Community Form
Videos about the CWNS and the Small Community Form
View a brief overview of the CWNS:
View a short tutorial on completing the Small Community Form:
Why the CWNS is Important and How to Complete the Small Community Form
- Why is the Clean Watersheds Needs Survey (CWNS) important?
- The CWNS is an assessment of the capital costs that are needed to address water quality and related public health concerns ("needs”). Needs for wastewater, stormwater, nonpoint source, and decentralized wastewater facilities are documented in a report used by Congress and state legislatures in their budgeting efforts. Needs have historically been underreported, especially for small communities, and EPA needs your help to accurately represent the investment needed in our water quality infrastructure.
- The information collected by the CWNS is used to generate a Report to Congress quantifying the nation’s total wastewater infrastructure needs. The information collected is not intended for compliance or regulatory purposes. See the most recent report:
Clean Watersheds Needs Survey 2012 Report to Congress (pdf)
- What is the form and how long will it take to complete?
- This form is designed to help small communities document the capital costs of their clean water infrastructure needs. Once you have gathered information about your facility’s needs, and assuming you have general information about your facility, this form should only take about 15 minutes to input the data. See below for more about the general information required and how to collect information about needed projects.
- This form is designed to help small communities document the capital costs of their clean water infrastructure needs. Once you have gathered information about your facility’s needs, and assuming you have general information about your facility, this form should only take about 15 minutes to input the data. See below for more about the general information required and how to collect information about needed projects.
- How does this form work?
- There are four versions of the form – one for each type of infrastructure that can be reported in the survey (i.e., wastewater, stormwater, nonpoint source, and decentralized). The most commonly used form is for wastewater collection and treatment. Each online form starts by asking you a few questions, which are necessary to tailor the form to your facility and situation. Once it has this basic information, it will ask for some contact information, information about the type of facilities you’re reporting (for example “collection and treatment”), and description of needs (such as rehabilitation, replacement, or expansion). Then it will walk you through how to report your needs.
- PDF versions of the small community form can be viewed below. These PDFs are intended for planning and reference purposes only:
- Wastewater Form - English (pdf) | Spanish (pdf)
- Stormwater Form – English (pdf) | Spanish (pdf)
- Decentralized Form – English (pdf) | Spanish (pdf)
- Nonpoint Source Form –
English (pdf)
|
Spanish (pdf)
- What general information do I need to have on hand to complete the form?
- For wastewater facilities, the CWNS collects information on trends in the nation’s ability to provide wastewater treatment. The form will prompt you to enter population served, flow, effluent treatment level, and discharge information. If these are likely to change in the next 20 years, you should provide estimates (ballpark estimates are fine) for future values.
- “Population served” is also required for the decentralized treatment. “Discharge” is an optional field for stormwater and decentralized treatment.
- The form also asks how much the needed projects will cost. See question #5 below for more information on how to submit costs, how to certify costs, or what to do if you don’t have a cost estimate.
- How do I report my capital improvement needs?
- You have three options to report needs. These options can be used in combination with one another, but you should be careful not to double count needs. Be sure to not include operations and maintenance (O&M) costs or the costs of any projects that have already received funding (e.g., a grant or loan). Only the upfront capital costs of the projects should be included.
- If you have published planning documents that describe your capital improvement needs (such as a capital improvement plan), send those documents to your state coordinator. Their email will be at the top of the form and in the email sent to you.
- If you do not have formal planning documents (or those documents do not fully reflect the needed projects), you can submit a cost estimate and then send the form to your professional engineer (PE) to electronically certify the estimate. Your state may provide a PE who can sign off on those estimates if you do not have a local PE available. If the state does not provide a PE, this option will be left off the form.
- If you do not have formal or informal estimates, you can use the cost estimation tools developed by EPA to generate a cost estimate. You’ll provide some simple inputs for the project such as infrastructure type (e.g., treatment plant), project description (e.g., rehabilitation), and capacity (e.g., 2 MGD).
- You have three options to report needs. These options can be used in combination with one another, but you should be careful not to double count needs. Be sure to not include operations and maintenance (O&M) costs or the costs of any projects that have already received funding (e.g., a grant or loan). Only the upfront capital costs of the projects should be included.
- What happens once I complete the form?
- Once you have completed the form, if you have informal estimates that require a PE signature, you will need to provide the engineer’s email and the form will be sent to them for approval. If your state provided the option to use their state PE to certify costs and you selected that option, the form will be automatically sent to the contact on file. Then it is automatically sent to your state coordinator, who will review the data you submitted and send the needs to EPA for inclusion in the survey.
- Once you have completed the form, if you have informal estimates that require a PE signature, you will need to provide the engineer’s email and the form will be sent to them for approval. If your state provided the option to use their state PE to certify costs and you selected that option, the form will be automatically sent to the contact on file. Then it is automatically sent to your state coordinator, who will review the data you submitted and send the needs to EPA for inclusion in the survey.
- Whom should I contact with questions about the form?
- Contact your state coordinator if you have any questions on how to complete the form. Your state coordinator’s email will also be provided at the top of the electronic form and in the email that is initially sent to you. View a list of state CWNS program coordinators.
- Contact your state coordinator if you have any questions on how to complete the form. Your state coordinator’s email will also be provided at the top of the electronic form and in the email that is initially sent to you. View a list of state CWNS program coordinators.
- Helpful Hints!
- Don’t forget to save as you go!
- Once you submit the form you won’t be able to access it again! Please don’t submit until the form is complete and ready to be sent to your state coordinator or a professional engineer to certify costs.
- The webpage will time out after about 15 minutes of inactivity. If you time out, just click on the link from your original email to be logged back in.
- There are four forms – if you have multiple infrastructure types (i.e., wastewater, stormwater, nonpoint source, and decentralized), please email your state coordinator to request additional forms.