| |
|
|
 |
| Volume 13, No. 25 June 17, 2004 |
| Highlight story from the current issue of WaterWeek |
Senate floats infrastructure funding measure
Draft legislation floated by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla., for discussion purposes would authorize $35 billion over five years for USEPA's twin State Revolving Funds (SRFs) to help finance clean and safe water projects, a more than four-fold increase over current authorized spending levels for the key infrastructure funding programs. The measure would also: - Require states to set aside up to 10 percent of their annual Clean Water SRF (CWSRF) and Drinking Water SRF (DWSRF) capitalization grants to provide direct grants to eligible water and wastewater systems.
- Permanently authorize governors to transfer up to a third of CWSRF capitalization grants to the DWSRF and vice versa.
- Authorize $25 million/year for USEPA grants to qualified nonprofit technical assistance providers to establish separate SRF loan programs to help small systems plan, design and otherwise predevelop infrastructure projects and cover costs associated with short-term equipment replacement and small-scale extension (assistance providers would make such loans in consultation with states).
- Expand the types of projects eligible for SRF assistance, including preconstruction and security costs under both SRFs, water conservation and stormwater projects under the CWSRF and distribution system upgrades under the DWSRF.
- Requires states to award SRF grants on a priority system, which ensures that water and wastewater systems that implement asset management programs and have assessed all revenue sources and reviewed restructuring and other nontraditional approaches "are progressively more likely to receive assistance."
Although considered a long-shot for passage in this election year, the draft reveals where GOP leaders want to go with such a bill, which has long been advocated by water and wastewater utilities struggling to keep up with rising expenses to comply with regulations, improve facility security and upgrade aging infrastructure. Regarding DWSRFs, the bill would also allow states to set aside up to 6 (instead of 4) percent of capitalization grants for program administration, eliminate the requirement for states to equally match any set-aside funds to support operator certification programs and allow set-asides to be used for sourcewater protection programs now that sourcewater assessments are all but complete. Annual DWSRF funding levels would be authorized at $15 billion over the next five years, ramping up from the current $1 billion/yr level (actual appropriations have been $850 million) to $1.5 billion in FY2005, $2 billion in each of the next two years, $3.5 billion in FY2008 and $6 billion in FY2009. For the CWSRF, the bill would also boost from 4 to 6 percent the amount states can set-aside for program management and hike authorized funding over five years to $20 billion. Levels would ramp up from the current authorized annual appropriation of $600 million (actual spending has been roughly double that) to $3.2 billion in each of the next two years, $3.6 billion in FY2007, $4 billion in FY2008 and $6 billion in FY2009. Additionally, the draft bill would authorize $100 million over five years for a demonstration grant program to promote innovative technologies and alternative approaches to water quality and water supply management and to reduce Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act compliance costs. Another $100 million would be authorized to provide grants to support related research and development projects. Finally, the bill would authorize $5 million for the National Academy of Sciences to complete a study that, among other things, would determine whether rates charged by public water systems and treatment works "adequately address the cost of service, including costs associated with operations, maintenance, capital replacement and regulatory requirements."
|
If you wish to comment on WaterWeek or its contents, contact the Editor, Mark Scharfenaker, by phone at (303) 347-6263; or by e-mail at mscharfe@awwa.org; or by mail at WaterWeek, 6666 W. Quincy Ave., Denver, CO 80235. You may also contact the Associate Editor, Carol Carpenter, at (303) 347-6297; by fax at (303) 794-7310; or by e-mail at ccarpenter@awwa.org.
|
|
|
|
|
