Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House of Representatives on March 5 would formally reauthorize a host of Clean Water Act programs, including the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). The bill, which is sponsored by the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is on track for committee consideration this spring and could find a place in larger comprehensive infrastructure legislation that Congress could consider this year.
Sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act (H.R. 1497) would authorize spending up to $4 billion on the CWSRF per year through 2024. Other parts of the bill would authorize:
- $900 million for grants to municipalities to capture, treat or reuse combined and sanitary sewer overflows or stormwater;
- $1.5 billion over five years for states to implement Clean Water Act water pollution control programs;
- $600 million over five years for pilot programs aimed at addressing wet weather discharges, promoting stormwater best management practices, undertaking integrated water resource management, and increasing the resiliency of treatment works to natural or man-made disasters; and
- $375 million in grants over five years for alternative water source projects, including projects that reuse wastewater or stormwater to augment existing sources of water.
The measure was subsequently the focus of a March 7 committee hearing where supporters stressed the need for additional water infrastructure spending. H.R. 1497 could be added to a larger infrastructure bill that Congress could develop later this year, such as the next reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) planned for 2020. H.R. 1497 does not affect the Drinking Water SRF or WIFIA, each of which Congress reauthorized last year as part of America’s Water Infrastructure Act.