580                              Laws of Maryland                        Ch. 246

Maryland, as amended from time to time, that has received an order
from the State Board of Health and Mental Hygiene pursuant to
Section 392 of Article 43 to construct or improve sewerage facilities
, AND ANY INSTRUMENTALITY OF THE STATE HAVING
EXPRESS POWER TO MAKE GRANT APPLICATIONS, may
petition the State for a grant equal to 25 percent of the eligible
cost of the project as determined by the State and for an additional
sum equal to 50 percent of the eligible cost in advance of a grant
offer from the Federal Water Pollution Control Agency AND FOR
ANY ADDITIONAL SUM THAT THE PETITIONER MAY BE
ENTITLED TO RECEIVE UNDER THIS ACT provided that the
petitioner files an application for a Federal grant and meets all
other conditions and requirements to be eligible for a Federal
grant and further provided that the petitioner shall contract to
repay to the State for deposit to the Water Quality Loan Account
all subsequent Federal funds which the petitioner may receive as a
result of the grant application to the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Administration, or has received a grant offer for a project in
accordance with the provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Con-
trol Act or has been notified that the project is eligible for a
Federal grant offer in a specified amount, but insufficient Federal
Funds are available to make an offer in the amount for which the
project has been found eligible, may petition the State Department
of Health for a grant, or, recognizing that pursuant to statutory
authority and through agreements with the District of Columbia
and the Federal Government the Washington Suburban Sanitary
District's sanitary sewerage systems include allocated capacities or
reserved portions of the sanitary sewerage facilities and systems
operated by the District of Columbia, any improvement to or en-
largement of those facilities for the Maryland district's sewerage
is for the use and benefit of the residents of the Washington
Suburban Sanitary District and of the State and advances the broad
goals and purposes of this Act, and on such basis the Washington
Suburban Sanitary Commission's portion of the capital costs for
the improvements to or enlargement of those facilities to be made
hereafter is equivalent to construction by the Washington Suburban
Sanitary Commission of a project within the purview of this sec-
tion, and that portion shall be treated as construction by the Com-
mission with respect to eligibility for a grant hereunder, all within
the following conditions and limitations:

1.  That a State grant offer shall be made only for the construction
of projects that meet the specifications required by the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act and all applicable State legislation and
regulations, as amended from time to time.

2.  That a State grant offer shall be made for every project on
which a Federal grant offer is made, or which has been found
eligible for a Federal grant, and that the outright State grant shall
be equal, when combined with the maximum Federal grant for
which the project would be eligible if sufficient Federal funds were
available, to seventy-five percent (75%) of the eligible cost of the
project, except that when the size of the Federal grant is increased
by the Secretary of the Interior, as the result of the project being
in conformity with an approved comprehensive plan, such increase
shall not be used to decrease the amount of the outright State grant.
In the case of a project to be operated by a State owned institution