AMWA came together with seven other water and infrastructure sector associations this month to express support for strong funding for water and wastewater priorities in the upcoming FY19 appropriations bills, and also for continuation of EPA’s popular WaterSense program.
One letter sent to Capitol Hill on March 20 – two days before lawmakers released their final FY18 omnibus spending bill that carried major increases for water infrastructure funding programs – called on Congress to double spending on the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) in 2019, compared to each program’s 2017 appropriation. The letter went on to ask Congress to fund the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program at its fully authorized level of $50 million in FY19, and to maintain funding for EPA’s Water Security Division, among other priorities.
AMWA and dozens of other water sector organizations and individual communities sent a separate letter in support of the WaterSense program to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on March 22. The letter urged the Trump administration to continue to fund the “highly successful” program, which the organizations noted is completely voluntary and which helped Americans save more than $46 million on their water and energy bills in the ten years ending in 2016.
The Trump administration has proposed eliminating WaterSense in the past, but the just-enacted omnibus appropriations bill rejected this request while setting aside more than $210 million for the program in FY18.
Congressional appropriators are expected to begin drafting their FY19 spending bills in the coming months.