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1 1 (April 2, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govcpzy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01; F ie sea.rch & April 2, 2020 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Water Infrastructure Programs and FY2020 Appropriations The condition of the nation's drinking water and wastewater infrastructure and associated financing challenges are perennial subjects of debate and attention in Congress. Among others, challenges include the ability of communities especially low-income communities-to finance projects needed to (1) repair or replace water infrastructure, much of which has was constructed more than 50 years ago; (2) comply with new or revised federal regulatory requirements; and (3) address damage from natural hazards and improve resiliency to extreme weather events. The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94), Division D, Title II, included appropriations for multiple water infrastructure programs administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), particularly the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) programs. P.L. 116-94 also included appropriations for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan program, two regional infrastructure grant programs, four drinking water infrastructure grant programs, and one wastewater infrastructure grant program. Appropriations for the CWSRF, DWSRF, and other infrastructure grant programs are provided within the State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) account. WIFIA is funded through a separate account. As presented in Table 1, Congress appropriated a total of $2.98 billion for FY2020 for these water infrastructure programs, or about 1.6% less than the total FY2019 enacted level of $3.03 billion, prior to rescissions (P.L. 116-6, Titles II and IV). Also for FY2019, Congress provided $349.4 million in supplemental appropriations for the state revolving funds (SRFs) in P.L. 116-20. These funds were provided to areas affected by specified natural disasters. For FY2020, P.L. 116-113, Title IX, included a supplemental appropriation of $300 million for wastewater projects at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) authorize two complementary SRF programs to help publicly owned treatment works and public water systems finance improvements needed for compliance and other statutory purposes. The CWSRF provides financial assistance for infrastructure projects to publicly owned treatment works and other eligible recipients (33 U.S.C. §§1381-1387). The DWSRF provides assistance to public water systems, which may be publicly or privately owned (42 U.S.C. §300j-12). In both SRF programs, EPA makes grants to states to capitalize a state revolving loan fund. Each state must match 20% of its annual capitalization grant. States are authorized to use the DWSRF or the CWSRF to provide primarily subsidized loans to eligible public water systems or publicly owned treatment works (and other eligible recipients), respectively. CWSRF financial assistance is available generally for projects needed for constructing or upgrading (and planning and designing) publicly owned treatment works, among other purposes defined in Title 33, Sectionl383(c), of the United States Code. DWSRF financial assistance is available for statutorily specified expenditures and those that EPA has determined, through guidance, will facilitate SDWA compliance or significantly further the act's health protection objectives. Table I. U.S. EPA Water Infrastructure: Enacted Appropriations for FY2019 and FY2020 (dollars in millions, not adjusted for inflation) Program FY2019 FY2020 CWSRF DWSRF State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG) Account $1,694.0 $1,638.8 $1,164.0 $1,126.1 Grants for U.S.-Mexico Border Projects Grants for Rural and Alaska Native Villages Grants for Small and Disadvantaged Communities Grants for Testing School Water for Lead Grants for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water Grants for Drinking Water System Resilience and Sustainability Grant for Sewer Overflow and Stormwater $15.0 $25.0 $25.0 $29.2 $25.0 $25.4 $25.0 $26.0 $15.0 $19.5 None $3.0 None $28.0 Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Account WIFIA Total $68.0 $60.0 $3,031.0 $2,981.0 Source: CRS using data from P.L. 1 16-6 (Division E, Titles II and IV) and P.L. 116-94 (Division D, Title II). This table does not include (I) supplemental appropriations acts described in the accompanying text, as these only provided additional funding for specific locations or narrower types of projects; or (2) grants for technical assistance for small, rural water systems and treatment works, as described below. While the SRFs generally provide subsidized loans, states may use the DWSRF and the CWSRF (under certain gognpo goo , q g 'S a X

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