The Senate took an important first step last week towards passing comprehensive infrastructure legislation with the overwhelming passage of the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 (DWWIA), S. 914.

Administrator Michael Regan announced last week during Water Week the formation of a new EPA Council on PFAS (ECP) that will build upon the momentum already happening under the Agency’s PFAS Action Plan. The ECP will be co-chaired by EPA’s Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Radhika Fox and EPA Region 1’s Acting Administrator Deb Szaro.

The NACWA Board of Directors met this past Thursday, April 29. Over the course of the virtual meeting, the Board discussed several important items, including preliminary approval of the Association’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 General Fund budget and Targeted Action Fund Budget. NACWA will be sending members more information about the preliminary budgets for review and comment soon.

With water policy dominating legislative talks in both the House and Senate, as well as in President Biden’s proposed infrastructure legislation, NACWA has been working tirelessly with the various media outlets to accurately frame the discussions around clean water investment. Over the course of the past two months, NACWA has featured extensively in all major D.C. policy news outlets.

The National Governor’s Association (NGA) convened a two-day virtual roundtable event that brought together some of the country’s stormwater funding and financing experts to specifically address equity considerations. Discussions covered existing funding mechanisms like state revolving funds to the newly created sewer overflow and stormwater reuse municipal grant program to establishing a stormwater utility and developing equitable fee structures.

This afternoon, the U.S. Senate voted 89-2 to pass S. 914, the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA). This comprehensive clean and drinking water infrastructure legislation authorizes strong annual water infrastructure investment – including the first-ever reauthorization of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted to pass S. 914, the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act (DWWIA). This bipartisan, comprehensive clean water and drinking water infrastructure legislation will authorize strong annual water infrastructure investment to help boost federal water infrastructure investment, including the first-ever reauthorization of the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) at a level totaling $14.6 billion over five years.

Since $638M in first-ever low-income water customer assistance was signed into law in December – followed by a second tranche of $500M provided in March – utilities have been waiting for the funding to start flowing to help customers in need. NACWA has been in conversation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) staff standing up the new program, dubbed the Low Income Household Water Assistance Program, or LIHWAP, and offering recommendations, but limited details had been released by the agency until recently.