Legislation introduced in the Senate this month would deliver a host of funds for water reuse projects in the West, through a reauthorization of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse competitive grant program and the creation of a new version of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program targeted solely at water supply projects in Reclamation states.
Sponsored by Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the Drought Resiliency and Water Supply Infrastructure Act (S. 1932) would authorize hundreds of millions of dollars for western water supply and reuse projects. The bill’s authorizations include:
- $670 million for surface and groundwater storage projects, and projects supporting conveyance;
- $100 million for water recycling projects; and
- $60 million for desalination projects.
In addition, the measure would create a new WIFIA-based program known as the Reclamation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (RIFIA). Like WIFIA, RIFIA would leverage federal dollars for loans to finance eligible water supply projects in Bureau of Reclamation states, plus Alaska and Hawaii. EPA and the Bureau of Reclamation would jointly manage the new program, which would be authorized at $150 million over five years.
It was not immediately clear whether the bill would receive a committee markup in the coming months, or if it might be a candidate to be attached to larger infrastructure legislation.