Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure

Contact

Scott Berry
Director, Municipal & Utilities Division
Business Development, Programs & Industry Relations
Associated General Contractors of America
2300 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 400
Arlington, VA 22201
USA
Phone: (703) 837-5321
Fax: (703) 837-5407
http://www.agc.org

The nation has an estimated need of between $400 and $600 billion over the next 20 years for safe drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. One of the primary sources of federal funding for drinking water and waste water infrastructure are the highly successful, but chronically underfunded, Safe Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) programs. In addition, to help stabilize the level of water infrastructure funding, a Clean Water Trust Fund is needed for a user-fee based, deficit-neutral funding stream. The recently enacted Recovery Act included additional water infrastructure but the funding for the programs lags significantly behind the needs.

Hot Topics

See more Hot Topics in Construction Legislative Week In Review

Water Needs

Water Infrastructure Needs and Investment: Review and Analysis of Key Issues (Congressional Research Service, 2008) identifies a number of issues that have received attention in connection with water infrastructure investment including: the debate about needs, who will pay, what is the federal role and mechanisms for delivering federal support. Read the complete document here.

Clear Waters: Why America Needs a Clean Water Trust Fund (Food and Water Watch, 2007) Compares the findings from the EPA Gap Analysis with the historical funding of the Clean Water SRF to conclude the a Clean Water Trust Fund is needed and explains the mechanics behind one. Read the complete document here. The report is also accompanied by a detailed State-by-State breakdown.

The Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2002) Estimates capital needs for clean water from 2000 to 2019 range from $331 billion to $450 billion and capital needs for drinking water over the same period range from $154 billion to $446 billion. Read the complete document here.

Future Investment in Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure (Congressional Budget Office, 2002) Estimates that for the years 2000 to 2019, annual costs for investment will average between $11.6 billion and $20.1 billion for drinking water systems and between $13.0 billion and $20.9 billion for wastewater systems. Read the complete document here.

Water Infrastructure: Information on Federal and State Financial Assistance (Government Accountability Office, 2001) From FY91 through FY2000, nine federal agencies made available about $44 billion, in a variety of forms, for drinking water and wastewater capital improvements while State governments made a total of about $25 billion in state funds available. Read the complete document here.

Clear & Safe Water for the 21st Century: A Renewed National Commitment to Water and Wastewater Infrastructure (Water Infrastructure Network, 2000) The WIN Coalition catalogued a$23 billion a year funding gap between current investment in infrastructure and the investments that will be needed annually over the next 20 years to replace aging and failing pipes and meet mandates of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Read the complete document here.

Legislation

The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) is a low interest loan program to fund water quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, nonpoint source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management. The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) is a low interest loan program to finance infrastructure improvements for drinking water systems.

Water Infrastructure Funding

  • H.R. 1262 - Water Quality Investment Act of 2009: authorizes $18.7 billion over five years in wastewater infrastructure and other efforts to improve water quality. Read more.
  • S. 1005 - Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 2009: authorizes $39.1 billion over five years for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure and other water quality improvements. Read more.

Clean Water Trust Fund

  • H.R.3202 - Water Protection and Reinvestment Act: establishes a $10 billion annual off-budget source of funding for water infrastructure. The revenue stream would finance the construction and maintenance of water infrastructure. Read more.

Private Activity Bond Volume Cap

  • H.R 537 - the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act of 2009: amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that the volume cap for private activity bonds shall not apply to bonds for facilities for the furnishing of water and sewage facilities. Read more.
  • S. 3262 - the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act of 2010: amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that the volume cap for private activity bonds shall not apply to bonds for facilities for the furnishing of water and sewage facilities. Read more.

Take Action

Support Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure

[Photo: Take Action]Members of Congress need to hear from you about the need to modernize our nation's water and wastewater infrastructure and the importance of timely action. Specifically, elected officials need to understand a multi-year reauthorization is necessary to prevent the budget difficulties most states are experiencing from stalling water and wastewater programs across the nation and potentially undercutting the benefits of the economic Recovery Act's transportation investments.

Use the AGC Legislative Action Center to urge your Senators to support S. 1005, the Water Infrastructure Financing Act

Coalitions

AGC is a member of the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN), a coalition dedicated to preserving and protecting the health, environmental and economic gains that America's drinking water and wastewater infrastructure provides.

Liquid Assets

Liquid Assets is a documentary produced by Emmy award winning Penn State University Public Broadcasting. This ninety-minute documentary highlights the current state of our Nation's essential water, wastewater, and storm water infrastructure.

Learn more about liquid assets.