Congressional Spending Bill Allocates Billions To Water Projects
The latest major spending bill passed by U.S. Congress has demonstrated the growing importance of clean, abundant drinking water for the country, as well as the mounting costs of maintaining it.
A $1.7 trillion government funding bill for fiscal year 2023 includes major provisions for the U.S. EPA, outdated drinking water infrastructure, and drought relief measures.
“A statement from the Senate Appropriations Committee said the package included $40.6 billion to help communities recover from ‘drought, hurricanes, flooding, wildfire, natural disasters and other matters,’” The Hill reported. “That includes about $4 billion for farm aid; $520 million to help Western power districts buy fuel to make up for hydropower shortfalls … and about $1.6 billion to repair the damaged water system of Jackson, Miss.”
Among the many water and wastewater issues around the country that have now emerged as national priorities, one of the most high-profile to be reflected in this spending bill is the failure of Jackson’s water system. In September, a state of emergency declared in the state’s capital over an inability to deliver clean drinking water raised questions about trust in public institutions and the role of federal water regulators.
But such a large federal investment could remind consumers of the power that federal authorities have to buttress water systems, with the EPA taking a leading role in managing improvements.
“The spending bill says the funds allocated for work on the water system would be administered by the federal Environmental Protection Agency,” Mississippi Today reported. “Jordan Downs… who represents a portion of Jackson, confirmed that the money was placed in the spending bill at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Despite such significant investment in key drinking water priorities, the spending bill does not reflect the current administration’s full ambition for things like source water quality and drought resilience.
“In their budget statement, Senate Republicans bragged about how they had rejected the president’s ‘radical environmental and climate policies,’” per The Hill. “...negotiators settled on less water and energy spending than the president had requested.”
To read more about how public drinking water and wastewater systems secure their budgets, visit Water Online’s Funding Solutions Center.