PA, DE watersheds and water quality will benefit significantly if clean water funding bill is adopted
From University of Delaware - Water Resources Agency Institute for Public Administration …
Gerald J. Kauffman, Director
Re: Clean Water Funding Legislation, H.R. 1262
We know that the political focus shifts as needs arise, as it should, from one topic to another. When bridges, roads, water delivery systems and waste collection systems fail in metropolitan areas, the focus shifts to infrastructure. When there is an oil spill, the focus shifts to stopping the leak, controlling the impact, cleaning what has leaked and restoring the environment to the conditions prior to the leak; or as close to those conditions as possible. This constant shift in focus means that federal and state funding sources should be assessed for their longevity and likeliness to be available into the future.
At the local level, the prudent approach to financing for small systems is to look at the long term effect of decisions. Even with the American Recovery and Reinvestment act money moving through the different levels of government, we need to keep in mind that this is (right now) a onetime Act of Congress and local leaders should have good reason not expect injections of money for infrastructure at this level in the future. The best case scenario then, is for leaders to employ full cost pricing which includes setting money aside for renewal or replacement of assets in the system enabling the system to be financially stable without any external assistance.
Our experience at the Environmental Finance Center shows that this is not usually the case. So, we must look at what is available in relative perpetuity as a funding source. One of the most stable funding sources is the annual capitalization of the States’ Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The federal funding appropriated to the individual States is a determining factor of whether your project for your system will be funded in a given year. There are, of course, other State-by- State criteria.
Currently, H.R. 1262, the “Water Quality Investment Act of 2009″, has passed the House of Representatives and is currently in the Senate Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. One of the important things to remember is that this bill determines the allotment formula for the State Revolving Funds through FY 2014. This is the type of legislation that should be tracked by municipal and district leaders so they can understand how this long-term funding resource will be administered.
I encourage everyone responsible to their community for providing water, wastewater and stormwater services to look at the text of H.R. 1262 and spend the necessary time to understand what its implications are to your upcoming infrastructure projects.
You can find the State-by-State Allocation for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund here>>
