A report released in January by a bipartisan group of House lawmakers offers a number of policy recommendations for rebuilding and renewing the nation’s infrastructure, including a number of ideas to spur investment in water and wastewater systems. But it is unclear how much influence the report will have when congressional leaders begin to piece together their own infrastructure plan, as many of the concepts in the report have been discussed previously.
The report was authored by members of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of 48 lawmakers which exists to “analyze policies and find points of bipartisan consensus to address the enormous need for new infrastructure and the current backlog of deferred maintenance facing our country.” The report offers several broad policy recommendations, plus more specific ideas for six infrastructure sectors, including water and wastewater systems. For the water sector, the lawmakers recommend several ideas that have been promoted by AMWA and other water sector groups, such as increasing spending on the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs), increasing funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program to its fully-authorized level of $45 million in FY18, promoting the development of regional water systems, and reviewing duplicative state regulations that increase paperwork for utilities seeking SRF loans. Other water and wastewater policy recommendations include increasing research to combat harmful algal blooms, expanding WIFIA’s aid to small and rural communities, and creating a federal water research agency “to directly support high-risk, high-rewards technology development.”
In a statement, members of the caucus said the report is intended to identify a “set of policies to serve as the bedrock for a plan that addresses the dire need to rebuild and responsibly invest in infrastructure across the United States.” The report comes as the Trump Administration could release its own infrastructure plan as early as the end of the month, and as chatter about a comprehensive infrastructure bill is increasing on Capitol Hill. But at this point it is impossible to say which, if any, of the ideas in the report may make their way into any subsequent infrastructure package.