Conference negotiations between the House and Senate on a final Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2020, which could authorize billions of additional dollars for the clean water sector, are in full swing as the two chambers work to hammer out a final bill with the goal of sending it to President Trump’s desk this Fall.

Thanks to years of tireless effort by NACWA, its members and the Association’s water sector partners, EPA has taken a major step toward overhauling its financial capability assessment methodology to better account for the impacts on economically disadvantaged communities.

Conference negotiations between the House and Senate on a final Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2020 bill have ramped up over the past week with clean water provisions and billions of dollars in potential funding now coming into focus.

NACWA joined with the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) this week to send a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler flagging the significant financial challenges facing many clean water utilities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and asking the Agency to exercise flexibility in working with utilities whose capital budgets have been impacted by significant economic disruption.

Per Executive Order 13132, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to convene a federalism consultation for public and stakeholder engagement on particular issues that will have a significant and substantial compliance cost for the regulated community.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently opened the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) application period, with applications due on November 4, 2020.

NACWA is joining this week with water sector partners like the Value of Water Coalition and otherwater and core infrastructure organizations, to celebrate Infrastructure Week 2020.

The deadline for an important survey on the economic impacts of COVID-19 to water sector utilities has been extended.