AMWA joined a coalition of drinking water and wastewater organizations last week in calling on members of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee to reject proposed cuts to the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) in the 2014 fiscal year.
In testimony submitted to the subcommittee on April 25, AMWA and seven other water and infrastructure financing organizations highlighted EPA studies identifying more than $600 million in water infrastructure funding needs over the next 20 years, as well as a wider report from AWWA estimating actual drinking water infrastructure costs could exceed $1 trillion over 25 years. The testimony also discussed the job-creating potential of these necessary water infrastructure investments.
Recognizing that the nation continues to face a challenging budget environment, the water groups asked Congress to fund the Drinking Water and Clean Water SRFs at $918 million and $1.466 billion, respectively, equal to their FY12 funding levels. The testimony explained that while this amount “is still far below the well-documented clean and safe water infrastructure needs, it … will allow meaningful and essential water quality projects to move forward nationwide.”
The president’s FY14 budget proposed cutting the DWSRF from $908.7 million in 2013 to $817 million. The CWSRF would be reduced from $1.452 billion to $1.095 billion. Acting EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe defended these proposed cuts at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing last week (see following story).