WASHINGTON – This week, President Biden unveiled a more than $2 trillion infrastructure package. The "American Jobs Plan” included an unprecedented and historic $111 billion investment in water infrastructure over the next 10 years.
Among the plan’s more ambitious goals are the 100 percent elimination of lead pipes and service lines in the nation’s drinking water systems, calling on Congress to invest $45 billion in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and in Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN) grants.
“Across the country, pipes and treatment plants are aging and polluted drinking water is endangering public health,” according to a White House Fact sheet. “An estimated six to ten million homes still receive drinking water through lead pipes and service lines. The President’s investments in improving water infrastructure and replacing lead service lines will create good jobs, including union and prevailing wage jobs.”
The plan targets the need for upgrading and modernizing drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems by calling for $56 billion in grants and low-cost flexible loans to states, Tribes, territories, and disadvantaged communities across the country.
Finally, the plan includes $10 billion in funding to monitor and remediate PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in drinking water and to invest in rural small water systems and household well and wastewater systems, including drainage fields.
“It is heartening to see water be prominently featured in the plan after years of water infrastructure being out of sight and out of mind,” a statement from the US Water Alliance said following the announcement. “We commend today’s commitment to water infrastructure as a reflection and recognition of political will to take action to begin to close the water infrastructure investment gap.”
