WASHINGTON -- A House-Senate conference committee approved a final version of the Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, for 2020, late last week. The final language did not include the clean water sector, drawing criticism from members of the industry.
"Over the past several cycles, this bill has become the vehicle of choice for authorizing essential funding for clean and drinking water infrastructure," a press release from NACWA read. "While both the House and Senate Committee versions of WRDA 2020 included clean water investment, the conferenced language released is limited to the Army Corps of Engineers titles. This bill was a chance for Congress to provide much needed new funding for the public clean water sector. Unfortunately, support for public clean water utilities was left out entirely."
Among the provisions requested bythe public clean water sector, but not delivered are: strong Federal Investment in Public Clean Water Infrastructure, including long-overdue reauthorization and increased funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund; reauthorization of the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants of $250 million per FY; reauthorization and refinement to the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act in Excess of $50 million per FY; increased authorized funding for EPA’s Water Infrastructure Workforce Investment program; authorization of Clean Water Infrastructure Resilience Grant Funding to help utilities adapt to climate change; the creation of an Advanced Research Projects Agency – Water (ARPA-H20) to encourage increased technological innovation in the public clean water sector; clear congressional authorization for supplemental environmental projects in Clean Water Act settlement agreements; authorization of a wastewater infrastructure discretionary grant program for the first time; and robust funding for Clean Water Act Section 319 Nonpoint Source Management Grants.
“It is disappointing Congress was unable to provide needed new funding for public clean water utilities in the final WRDA package, especially given the amazing work these utilities have done on the front lines of public health protection since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic," Nathan Gardner-Andrews, NACWA’s General Counsel and Chief Advocacy Officer, said in a statement.
“While NACWA is appreciative of the additional funding the House and Senate supported in bipartisan fashion this Congress in their individual WRDA bills, the failure to find agreement in the final package is a disservice to public clean water utilities all across the nation. “Public clean water utilities have put their lives and revenue on the line to protect public health and the environment during the crisis. Congress’s inability to ultimately authorize clean water investment that already had bipartisan support will present serious challenges as the public clean water sector struggles to go it alone without new support from the federal government. NACWA looks forward to working with Congress to address this issue immediately when it reconvenes in January.”
Other groups pointed out the failure to include any legislation that would regulate PFAS in the bill;'s final language.
"The PFAS pollution crisis is a public health emergency," Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs said in a statement. "More than 200 million people are likely drinking water polluted with PFAS. But the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 fails to set deadlines for the EPA to regulate industrial discharges of PFAS and does not even require the Army Corps of Engineers to address PFAS contamination at the Army Corps’ own facilities."
Both houses of Congress will vote on the bill before it goes to the White House for President Trump’s signature or veto.
