A Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill approved by a Senate panel last week includes several new funding and oversight programs in response to the Flint, Michigan water crisis. The bill also offers emergency funding to help Flint replace lead pipes and plumbing components while also authorizing a new program to help communities nationwide pay for the replacement of lead service lines.
Approved by the Environment and Public Works Committee by a 19-1 vote, the main purpose of the 271-page bill (S. 2848) is to authorize a variety of public works, navigation and environmental restoration projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers while making relatively modest reforms to Corps’ policies and programs. Committee leaders had earlier pledged to use the bill to advance several other proposals to shore up the nation’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure and followed through by adding a water infrastructure title largely made up of proposals that were first offered on Capitol Hill in response to the Flint water crisis.
Notable lead-related provisions in the bill include a $300 million grant program to help communities and low-income homeowners replace lead service lines and a $100 million program to help schools test their water for lead contamination. The bill would deliver $100 million in Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) assistance targeted to Flint, as well as $70 million in credit subsidies that could be used to originate loans under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA). Lawmakers expect the credit subsidies to translate into at least $700 million worth of WIFIA loans, which could be used on lead abatement projects or any other water infrastructure project eligible for WIFIA funding. The bill includes a “sense of the Senate” statement that future WIFIA funding should come “in addition to robust funding” for the SRF programs.
Other sections of the bill would establish a water trust fund through the collection of voluntary fees paid by manufacturers, codify water facility security enhancements as an eligible use of DWSRF loan dollars and formally authorize EPAs WaterSense program. The bill would further require EPA to update its Financial Capability Assessment Framework guidance after factoring in new affordability considerations and inform communities of the option to develop integrated plans for compliance with clean water rules. AMWA’s April 2016 Congressional Report highlights other provisions of interest to the drinking water community, and a bill summary provided by the EPW Committee provides additional details about the legislation.
EPW Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and ranking Democrat Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) released a statement praising the bill. The legislation appears on track to go to the Senate floor this summer, although Sens. Inhofe and Boxer did not repeat their earlier prediction that the bill would receive a floor vote before July 4. AMWA sent the committee a letter on the bill, saying the measure “represents meaningful progress toward improving our water infrastructure.”