Legislation intended to help local drinking water and wastewater utilities adapt their infrastructure to prepare for the impacts of changing hydrological conditions was approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on May 22 as part of a larger water resources bill (S. 2800).
The adaptation proposal, known as the Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act, mirrors an AMWA-backed bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives in April as H.R. 5596. The legislation would establish a new EPA program dedicated to offering competitive grant assistance to help communities offset the cost of water and wastewater projects necessary to improve the sustainability of their infrastructure to changing hydrologic conditions and extreme weather, or to study the potential impacts of these factors on their water systems. A variety of projects, ranging from water efficiency, new water supply development, infrastructure relocation and green infrastructure initiatives, would be eligible for assistance.
AMWA had previously worked with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and former Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) to draft the initial version of the bill, and similar proposals have been offered in each session of Congress since 2009. With Rep. Capps’ retirement at the end of 2016, AMWA worked with her successor, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), to update the proposal and prepare it for introduction in the 115th Congress as H.R. 5596. Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) joined the bill as a cosponsor, the first time a Republican member of Congress has formally endorsed this utility adaptation legislation. Sen. Cardin then worked to secure the bill’s place in the EPW Committee’s manager’s amendment for S. 2800.
The resiliency and sustainability program included in the larger water resources legislation incorporates several updates to earlier versions of the bill. These include expanding eligibility to projects sponsored by interstate and intermunicipal organizations, allowing funds to be used on projects that respond to rising sea levels, increasing the maximum federal project cost share to 75 percent, and ensuring that a private water system that receives funding only uses it on a project that has the support of the affected local government. Under S. 2800, EPA would be authorized to receive up to $25 million for the program over two years.
AMWA and ten other water and infrastructure sector organizations wrote to Reps. Carbajal and Reed in support of the bill after its introduction in the House of Representatives, saying it will allow communities to “build resiliency into their infrastructure today, while helping ensure uninterrupted water and wastewater service for decades to come.” AMWA plans to encourage lawmakers to preserve the inclusion of the language in S. 2800 as it goes to the Senate floor and eventually a House-Senate conference committee that will hope to finalize a compromise WRDA bill before the end of the year.