The House Appropriations Committee on May 22 approved an FY20 spending bill that would boost EPA’s overall funding level while delivering significant increases to a number of water and wastewater infrastructure programs. The proposed funding increases align with a request that AMWA and other water sector organizations made to lawmakers last month.
As approved by the House Appropriations Committee, the FY20 spending bill would raise total EPA funding to $9.52 billion – $672 million above the agency’s 2019 enacted level and $3.42 billion above President Trump’s budget request for next year. Within this total, the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) would be fully-funded at $1.3 billion, while the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program would likewise receive its full $50 million authorization – a sum that could be leveraged into more than $5 billion in loans for water and wastewater projects.
Other highlights of EPA’s spending bill include $20 million for a program to help communities and low-income households replace lead service lines, $25 million to help schools and child care centers test their water for lead, $1 million for water workforce development grants, and $4 million for the Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability program, an initiative championed by AMWA that would help drinking water systems adapt their infrastructure to climate change. Before passage of the spending bill the committee unanimously adopted an amendment that shifted several funding levels that had been approved by a subcommittee earlier this month. One component of this amendment trimmed proposed Clean Water SRF funding from $1.81 billion to $1.784 billion, though the program would remain above its FY19 funding level of $1.694 billion.
The bill would also deliver an additional $18 million to support EPA’s scientific and regulatory work on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Of that sum, $3 million would support work to establish a maximum contaminant level for PFAS in drinking water, and $15 million would support research to support designating the chemicals as hazardous substances under CERCLA.
AMWA requested strong funding for many of these programs in a letter that was sent to House and Senate appropriators in April. While the initial Democratic-authored House proposal is good news for water programs, the legislation remains far from completion. Senate appropriators have yet to circulate their own EPA spending bill, and Republicans in the upper chamber have suggested that some of the funding targets envisioned by House Democrats are unrealistic. Ultimately, both sides will have to negotiate a compromise spending package that can also win the backing of President Trump.