From Elena H. Humphreys comes this CRS report (18 December 2023):'Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs: Background and Issues for Congress'.
Download CRS_Rpt_DW_Infrastructure_Needs_BG_Issues_Congress_18Dec2023
This report is larger than I usually post. I will simply paste the introductory material and some graphics (click to enlarge). The full PDFs are above.
Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs: Background and Issues for Congress
Congress has demonstrated interest in the provision of safe drinking water and in the maintenance of existing drinking water infrastructure. Outbreaks of waterborne diseases (e.g., Legionnaires’ disease) and extended boil water notices in some cities have brought attention to the current condition of the United States’ drinking water infrastructure. In 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that, over the next 20 years, the investment needed for drinking water system infrastructure would cost $648.8 billion (2022 dollars). This latest estimate is roughly $51 billion (2022 dollars), or 7.62%, more than EPA’s prior estimate, published in 2018. Approximately 67% (i.e., $436.8 million) of the latest survey’s estimated needs are for projects to repair or rehabilitate water systems’ transmission and distribution networks. EPA’s reports on drinking water infrastructure needs raise several considerations for Congress.EPA’s 2023 needs estimates follow recent increased congressional interest in drinking water infrastructure. As a reflection of this interest, Congress has increased appropriations in recent years for drinking water financial assistance programs administered by EPA. For example, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58) provides five fiscal years of supplemental appropriations, beginning in FY2022, for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). Further, several recent acts amended the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to authorize other grant programs intended to address specific issues or assist particular communities.
Under SDWA, EPA is required to assess the “capital improvement needs of eligible public water systems” every four years. From 1996 to 2018, EPA published six reports that estimated drinking water infrastructure needs. In 2018, America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA; P.L. 115-270) amended SDWA to require EPA to include an assessment in the needs survey of the costs to replace all lead service lines (LSLs) in eligible public water systems. EPA published the seventh report including these LSL estimates in 2023.
Over the agency’s seven reports, EPA’s estimates of the costs of needed drinking water infrastructure projects have increased (after accounting for changes due to inflation). General findings from EPA’s seven reports include (1) the costs of infrastructure projects for small water systems (defined as those systems serving 3,300 or fewer individuals) comprise a smaller percentage of total drinking water need, but result in higher per-household costs; and (2) the costs associated with replacement or rehabilitation of water system distribution and transmission networks represent the majority of the total estimated drinking water infrastructure need. Although not included in the seventh report, the first through sixth reports identified that the direct costs of infrastructure projects needed to comply with SDWA drinking water regulations (e.g., treatment upgrades) remain a smaller percentage of total drinking water investment need.
Congress has both explicitly and implicitly prioritized certain drinking water infrastructure needs. Statutory requirements provide examples of explicit congressional prioritization, and federal funding decisions arguably provide examples of implicit prioritization. Under the DWSRF, Congress requires that states prioritize projects that are needed to address the most serious human health risks, that are necessary to ensure SDWA compliance, and that assist systems most in need on a per- household basis according to state affordability criteria. Implicit prioritization may take the form of appropriations for specific drinking water financial assistance programs as well as dedicated funding to certain types of projects or specific projects through appropriations.
The increasing scale of drinking water infrastructure needs, including for specific categories of infrastructure needs, raises questions, including about how infrastructure needs are prioritized, how the EPA drinking water infrastructure needs survey aligns with congressional interests, and how that affects use of the survey’s results. Given congressional activities to support drinking water infrastructure needs, one consideration might involve how well the needs surveys align to congressional priorities. An example of how Congress has amended SDWA to align the needs survey to its priorities is the AWIA amendments to require EPA to report on LSL replacement costs. Another consideration might involve the data collection methods used to estimate needs, and the potential tradeoffs of these methods. In addition, a consideration for Congress may involve the scale of needs estimated by the seventh survey, and the distribution of these needs among states. Given the increasing estimated needs, the needs survey and its findings are likely to continue to generate congressional attention.
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