On Thursday, July 29, the House passed H.R. 5320, the Assistance, Quality, and Affordability (AQUA) Act of 2010 by a voice vote. This legislation amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize and increase funding for the drinking water state revolving fund (SRF) for FY2011-FY2013. H.R, 5320 authorizes $4.8 billion over three years for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) Program, which provides federal financial assistance to states for the construction of drinking water infrastructure. This is a key development in AGC's and the WIN Coalition's efforts to reauthorize the EPA SRF programs.
AGC of America sent a letter to Congress supporting the overall bill withstanding the inclusion of the Recovery Act "Buy American" requirements. Key changes to current policy in the legislation in addition to higher authorization levels include policies applied to EPA Stimulus funds including "Buy American" requirements for iron, steel and manufactured goods, and application of Davis Bacon prevailing wages. Another key change in the legislation includes applying requirements for qualifications based selection criteria (QBS) for Architecture and Engineering services with an exemption for communities of 10,000 people or less.
Other policy changes include:
- Revising provisions concerning state intended use plans for SRF funds, including by requiring plans to give priority for the use of such funds to public water systems affected by a new national primary drinking water standard and serving disadvantaged communities.
- Providing guidance, tools, methodologies or computer software to assist small systems in undertaking measures to improve the system's management, financial stability and efficiency or to reduce the system's environmental impact.
- Prohibiting the use of lead pipes, solder and flux do not apply to pipes, pipe and plumbing fittings, and fixtures (pipes) that are used exclusively for non-potable services.
- Revising the definition of "lead free" to mean not containing more than 0.2 percent lead when used with respect to solder and flux and no more than a weighted average of 0.25 percent when used with respect to the wetted surfaces of pipes.