Clean Water Current

EPA sent a letter last week to the governors of all U.S. states and territories outlining their respective Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) funding allocations that will soon be provided to them under the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill (IIJA/BIF) that President Biden signed into law on November 15th.

These funds represent combined FY22 allotments through the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) using the current SRF program allocation formulas and include the respective pots of money the IIJA provided through the SRFs for typical SRF infrastructure projects, to address emerging contaminants, and for lead service line replacement.

The IIJA provided full mandatory appropriated funding for water over a five-year period and the remaining dollars for each fiscal year 2023-2026 will be subsequently distributed in the coming years.

It is important to note that the mandatory funding for water under the IIJA does not include the normal/baseline FY22 appropriations dollars of $1.639 billion for the CWSRF that will also be provided when Congress eventually passes a full-year FY22 appropriations package.  Late last week, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the federal government at current levels until February 18^th to give appropriators more time to work out a final FY22 spending deal.  The CR does not impact the mandatory FY22 IIJA funding.

EPA is working to release guidance to states and territories on the use of IIJA funds by late January.  NACWA has a Task Force underway that will be engaging with EPA as it develops this guidance and how funds can most efficiently and effectively be provided to utilities.  Actual funds likely won’t be received by states and utilities until spring of 2022 at the earliest.

NACWA will continue to provide updates as they occur. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact Jason Isakovic or Kristina Surfus on NACWA’s legislative staff with any questions.