Legislation introduced in the House of Representatives on the final day of February would establish a new federal water trust fund, financed by an increase in the corporate income tax. But the bill, which is supported by a contingent of liberal lawmakers in the House, appears to have little chance of advancing in the foreseeable future.
Sponsored by Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.), the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (WATER) Act (H.R. 1417) would raise the federal corporate income tax and use as much as $35 billion of the proceeds to establish the new water trust fund. Nearly 90 percent of the trust fund revenues would be directed to the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs), with the remainder split among a number of other Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act programs.
The legislation would also make a number of reforms to the SRFs, such as requiring states to distribute at least 50 percent of their annual allotments as grants, barring privately owned drinking water systems that serve more than 10,000 people from obtaining DWSRF loans, and allowing SRF funds to be used for the public takeover of a privately owned water system. The bill would further allow DWSRF funds to be used to subsidize the replacement of a privately owned portion of lead service lines and to offset per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) treatment costs incurred by water systems and private homeowners. Buy American provisions that currently apply to the DWSRF through 2023 would be made permanent, and states would be required to allow the use of project labor agreements on any SRF-funded project.
Other parts of the WATER Act would require EPA to coordinate with the Justice Department to study “discriminatory practices of water and sewer service providers” and civil rights violations by water systems. EPA would further be directed to study water affordability nationwide and the rate of water service disconnections due to unpaid bills.
While H.R. 1417 was introduced in the House with the support of 43 Democratic cosponsors and, according to Rep. Lawrence, more than “140 national, state, and local organizations,” the bill does not appear to have been drafted with the input of congressional leaders or water utility stakeholders. The legislation is therefore highly unlikely to make any substantive progress on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Lawrence’s press release on the bill also suggested that a Senate version of the bill could be forthcoming from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). The release quoted Sen. Sanders stating that the bill would prevent “American kids [from] being poisoned by tap water.”