A water infrastructure bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives falls short of providing low-interest loans and funding to water utilities, advocates say.
The House passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 unanimously Tuesday afternoon and is headed to a final vote in the Senate before landing on the president’s desk.
Two important funding and financing mechanisms for bond finance were not included in the final write up — state revolving funds and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act.
“For the first time in several Congresses, the WRDA bill did not include more robust drinking water and clean water provisions,” said Jason Isakovic, legislative director at the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.
WRDA is passed every two years, the last time being in 2018. Since 2014, WRDA has encompassed more than Army Corps provisions, marking the first time in years that it did not include robust public water provisions.
“[The bill] includes provisions to invest in our ports, harbors and inland waterways; build more resilient communities; address affordability concerns for communities; unlock the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund; and ensure that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers carries out projects in an economically and environmentally responsible manner keeping equity in mind,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The bill, passed by a voice vote, is unlikely to be changed as it heads to the Senate and is likely to be passed. The language of the WRDA Act of 2020 was negotiated by Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Tom Carper, D-Del. and Reps. DeFazio and Sam Graves, R-Mo.
SRFs act as infrastructure banks by providing low-interest loans for drinking water infrastructure projects. As money is paid back into the state’s revolving loan fund, the state makes new loans for other projects. These recycled payments of loan principal and interest earnings allow the state’s fund to “revolve” over time.
WIFIA provides low-cost loans and loan guarantees to eligible borrowers for water and wastewater projects. It is designed to work with bonds and other funding sources.
The Clean Water SRF has not been reauthorized in decades, Isakovic said. In 2018, WRDA authorized WIFIA and the Safe Drinking Water SRF for three years at increased funding levels, rising to $1.95 billion in FY2021.
CWSRF gets an annual appropriation of about $1.6 billion, which has remained steady over the past few years. WIFIA’s appropriations have stayed somewhat steady at about $60 million dollars over the past couple of fiscal years.
Those programs will still get funding through a continuing resolution or an omnibus appropriations bill in the coming week. However, WRDA would have authorized substantial increased funding levels for those initiatives, Isakovic said.
“There is still going to be appropriations, but from our standpoint, a reauthorization bill is key for the clean water sector,” Isakovic said. “It authorizes the needed funding.”
Barrasso, who is chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, passed his bipartisan America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 and Drinking Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 in May. AWIA would have authorized $17 billion in new federal spending to invest in water infrastructure. It would have also reauthorized the CRSRF at increased funding levels for the first time in 30 years.
Both Senate bills would have reauthorized WIFIA. The House’s WRDA Act of 2020 did not include SRF or WIFIA when introduced but the House T&I’s Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2019 would have authorized $20 billion in five years through the SWSRF.
Next, NACWA is eyeing a future infrastructure bill or wait for the next round of WRDA in 2022 to include increased funding for clean water projects.
