Last month, House Republicans introduced a spending bill that would cut federal funding for water infrastructure by 25 percent. If passed, this would mark the lowest level of funding in more than 15 years for both the Drinking Water (DWSRF) and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF), the main sources of federal support for water infrastructure.
Let’s unpack that. I want to talk about how these funds help manage water systems, but first let’s talk about a community.
Perhaps no place better exemplifies how water infrastructure fails people than Martin County, Kentucky, one of the poorest counties in the U.S. While some of the richest coal mines in our country are located in Martin County, today many of them are closed and residents are unemployed.
Years of mismanagement and neglect have made water problems the norm in this rural Appalachian community. Pipes are cracked and leaking. A coal slurry spill in 2000 flooded local rivers with more than 300 million gallons of toxic sludge, contributing to concerns about water quality.
Even today, residents’ water bills include warnings about disinfection byproducts violating EPA standards in their water. Meanwhile, brown water is flowing from their taps when water is running, while many people contend with restricted water hours or have lost all access to water for days and weeks at a time.
The situation got so bad that a January 2018 video of an emergency Martin County Fiscal Court meeting to discuss the water went viral with footage of an angry citizen being choked by a police officer and dragged out of the meeting.
The water issues Martin County has dealt with have been an ongoing ordeal for decades.
Just ask Nina McCoy, who has been an advocate for this cause since 2000.
McCoy is the chair of Martin County Concerned Citizens, an advocacy group formed in 2017 to build transparency and give residents a voice.
“The same problems have been occurring throughout all of these investigations, and most of the money that has been allotted to this county has gone to adding more customers instead of upgrading the system that we have in order to service the customers that we already had,” McCoy told her local news station earlier this year.
It costs Martin County residents almost $70 a month for 4,000 gallons of water, according to a water affordability study by the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center (ACLC). That’s the second-highest water bill in the center’s dataset.
Systems need more money, period. Not just for maintenance but to rebuild and strengthen for the future.
So where does funding for this kind of infrastructure come from?
Established in 1996, the DWSRF is part of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). It’s a financial assistance program that helps water systems and states to achieve the health protection objectives of the SDWA. (See 42 U.S.C. §300j-12.) The program is a powerful partnership between the U.S. EPA and states.
Congress appropriates funding for the DWSRF. Then, the EPA awards grants to each state based upon the results of the most recent Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment, which looks at the needs of the nation’s drinking water infrastructure for the next 20 years. The states provide a 20 percent match.
The latest Needs Survey & Assessment came out in 2023 determining that drinking water systems need $625 billion for pipe replacement, treatment plant upgrades, storage tanks, and other key assets to ensure the public health, security, and economic well-being of our cities, towns, and communities.
The CWSRF program is a federal-state partnership that provides low-cost financing to communities for a variety of water quality infrastructure projects, including municipal wastewater facilities, non-point source pollution control, decentralized wastewater treatment systems, stormwater runoff mitigation, green infrastructure, estuary protection, and water reuse.
The U.S. water system is a sprawling series of independent networks and more than 2 million miles of underground pipes that provide drinking water to hundreds of millions of people each day. It is also must manage wastewater and contribute to hydropower, agricultural irrigation, and flood control.
Most water infrastructure is hidden from sight. It’s not something we think about, even though it is foundational to our daily lives. Not only do we drink water, but we use it to bathe, to make coffee and tea, and to clean our homes. We also need water for everything from agriculture to energy. Coal-fired power plants use water to extract, wash, and sometimes transport coal, as well as to cool the steam used to make electricity in the power plant.
Why are elected officials proposing cuts to water infrastructure funding?
Ongoing infrastructure issues, lack of resources, misappropriated funds, and shortsighted decisions go right along with toxic contamination to impact our water supply.
These proposed budget cuts come at a time when our water infrastructure needs are greater than ever.
A water main breaks in the U.S. every 2 minutes or so, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Infrastructure Report Card. Do-not-drink orders, along with other water advisories, are becoming more common in cities and towns throughout the nation. They are indicative of larger drinking water problems at play and show the gaps and failures in our infrastructure.
Toxic chemicals, including lead in service lines and PFAS “forever chemicals” from corporate polluters, are causing huge health harms and economic costs on communities nationwide. Outdated wastewater systems spill and leak hundreds of billions of gallons of raw sewage each year, contaminating waterways with pathogens and toxic chemicals.
Funding for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades are essential to protect community health and provide safe, affordable water for everyone.
In a recent needs assessments, the EPA put a price tag on all necessary upgrades at $1.3 trillion, which includes the already mentioned $625 billion drinking water needs along with another $630 billion in necessary upgrades for wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. Private industry groups, including the American Water Works Association, have estimated a similar cost that could top $1 trillion.
The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided the biggest jump in federal water funding in decades at $50 billion. Sounds good, except that it covers just 4 percent of the $1.3 trillion needed.
Our own society of civil engineer says we need to TRIPLE the amount of annual appropriations to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program.
So why are we proposing cuts??
The ASCE’s 2020 economic study, “The Economic Benefits of Investing in Water Infrastructure: How a Failure to Act Would Affect the U.S. Economic Recovery” found that the annual drinking water and wastewater investment gap will grow to $434 billion by 2029.
But all the studies and research in the world can’t compete with my inbox.
I continue to sound the alarm for all of us and share stories from people working on the front lines for safer, cleaner water. These folks have seen pollution issues on their doorstep. They have faced incredible health challenges and have had their lives impacted by poisoned water.
They have asked the biggest question of all: Why?
They have gone searching for answers, helping to make change. It’s my passionate hope that telling their stories will inspire you to join them. It’s time to realize that change begins with each of us.
It’s an election year, whether we like it or not. While many people might still be mulling over who to vote for at the top of the ticket, I encourage you to also get connected to the rest of your ballot.
Who will be your governor or mayor? Who is sitting on your city council? Those elected officials have a lot of sway when it comes to protecting your health during a water crisis.
The best way citizens can impact this process is to stop voting for lawmakers who refuse to talk about water and the environment.
Find your current representatives at Ballotpedia and let them know how important water infrastructure is to you. You can also learn more about who is running in you local elections at OpenSecrets.
Open Secrets is run by a nonpartisan, independent, and nonprofit organization, the Center for Responsive Politics, the nation’s top research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
Keep the conversation going in the comments section. How has water infrastructure impacted you? What are more ways we can help people understand these complicated issues? And just a reminder to be kind in the comments to one another and to this dedicated team that works hard to bring you the unfiltered truth!