The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and several other drinking water assistance programs would be reauthorized under a massive infrastructure bill introduced this month by all 31 Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Sponsored Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the LIFT America Act (H.R. 2741) could eventually serve as a piece of a larger infrastructure bill that Congress could consider at some point. The measure touches on multiple areas of the committee’s jurisdiction, from broadband to energy production to healthcare to drinking water infrastructure.
The drinking water component of the bill would extend the DWSRF’s authorization for an additional three years, through 2024, and authorize spending more than $14 billion on the program over that time. The bill would extend a number of other drinking water programs as well, such as school and child care center lead testing grants, drinking fountain replacement grants, community water system risk and resilience assessment grants, and Public Water System Supervision grants. The proposal also includes the text of another bill Rep. Pallone recently offered to create a five-year, $2.5 billion grant program to help community water systems install new treatment technologies to remove PFAS.
The Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the bill on May 22, indicating that the bill is on track to move through the panel in the coming months. AMWA submitted a statement for the record of the hearing where the association praised the DWSRF extension and urged similar reauthorizations for programs like EPA’s lead service line replacement grants and drinking water infrastructure resilience and sustainability program.
While supporters have framed H.R. 2741 as a possible component of a larger, comprehensive infrastructure bill, the likelihood of Congress advancing such a bill appeared to diminish this month. However, some drinking water components of the bill could potentially be folded into a Water Resources Development Act reauthorization that Congress is expected to develop next year.