Federal Grants And Other Financial Assistance For Clean Water

U.S. drinking water and wastewater systems encompass thousands of treatment facilities, collection facilities, and related works, and well over a million miles of pipes and conduits. While the investment, made over decades, in these facilities is enormous, even more funds will be needed in the future to support efforts to maintain clean and safe water. The estimated cost of the investments needed to repair, replace, or upgrade aging facilities, accommodate the nation's growing population, and meet new water quality standards ranges from $300 billion to $1 trillion over the next 20 years, according to various estimates.

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Background: History of Fed. Involvement; Wastewater; Drinking Water; USDA Assistance Programs; (3) Water Infrastructure Debate: Invest. Needs; EPA Needs Surveys; Drinking Water and Wastewater Needs; Future Investment; Gap Analysis Report; (4) Issues: (a) Priorities: What are the Problems to be Solved?: Infrastructure Replace.; Security; Funding Other Priorities; (b) Fed. Role; (c) Delivering Fed. Support: Admin. Entity; Type of Assistance Provided: Grants and Loans; Fed. Funds for Private Infrastructure Systems; Fed. Tax Issues; Fed. Cross-Cutting Requirements; Set-Asides; Allotment of Funds and Congress. Directed Project Grants; (d) Res. on New Technol.; (5) Congress. and Admin. Activity, 107th-110th Congress. Tables.

Many of the wastewater systems that Americans rely on to protect public health and the environment are reaching the end of their useful lives. The EPA has estimated that a potential gap between future needs and current spending for wastewater infrastructure of $150 billion to $400 billion could occur over the next decade. Various approaches have been proposed to bridge this potential gap. One is to establish a clean water trust fund. This testimony summarizes findings of a May 2009 report which examined: (1) stakeholders' views on the issues that would need to be addressed in designing and establishing a clean water trust fund; and (2) potential options that could generate about $10 billion annually in revenue to support a clean water trust fund. Ill.