Clean Water Current

Congressional authorizing committees are moving forward on reauthorization efforts for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA).

Over the past few months, both the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, which oversee water infrastructure programming, held hearings on strengthening federal water infrastructure investments. NACWA testified at the April EPW hearing.

Since those hearings, NACWA has been meeting with the Congressional offices who sit on the Senate EPW or House T&I Committees. These meetings have been productive, and NACWA remains optimistic that Congress will reauthorize the CWSRF before its current authorization expiries next year. There is bipartisan support for the CWSRF and WIFIA programs in both the House and Senate, and members have expressed the need for continued federal investment in our nation’s water infrastructure. 

NACWA has been focused on building support among members of Congress for the largest funding number possible for the CWSRF program. NACWA has also heard that some Members of Congress are interested in making programmatic changes to the underlying statutory text for the CWSRF, but it remains to be seen how the details of these proposals will shape out.

Some examples of areas of interest for changes are to support affordability and resiliency efforts. Another area of interest is to expand eligibility to receive CWSRF funds to private utility companies. As members of Congress and the Committees provide more details on these potential proposals, NACWA will provide updates and ensure that Congress understands how any changes would impact public water utilities. Right now, none of these proposals have been introduced or provided to the public yet. 

In addition to these efforts, NACWA, along with a coalition of drinking water and wastewater systems and water sector professionals, sent a letter to the EPW and T&I Committees last week requesting an amendment to the current WIFIA statute that would simplify certain loan requirements for qualified borrowers.

NACWA encourages member utilities to continue to weigh in with their members of Congress to highlight the impact of the CWSRF and WIFIA programs for their communities. 

Additionally, NACWA encourages member agencies to consider inviting their members of Congress to site visits during the summer — when lawmakers usually spend more time in their home states and districts — to discuss federal water investment and other local priorities. 

Members with questions may contact Kaitlyn Montán, NACWA’s Director of Legislative Affairs, to discuss.