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NSPE Issue Brief
Publication #4025, September 2002
Safe Drinking
Water Act
Support full funding for the Drinking Water State
Revolving Loan Fund for drinking water supply and treatment facility
construction.
Background
Congress originally passed the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation's public
drinking water supply. The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and requires
many actions to protect drinking water and its sources-rivers, lakes,
reservoirs, springs and groundwater wells.
The SDWA authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against
both naturally occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in
drinking water. The SDWA applies to the over 170,000 public water systems
in the U.S.
The SDWA Amendments of 1996 (P.L. 104-182) authorized a Drinking Water
State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF). This federal grant program provides money
for states which then provide loans to water systems to upgrade their
facilities and ensure compliance with drinking water standards. The
localities are required to repay the state, which then uses these
repayments to make loans to other localities.
The law authorizes $1 billion per year from fiscal years 1995-2003 to
capitalize the SRFs. States are required to provide a 20 percent match to
the federal share allocated to them. Under the law, states may jointly
manage their Drinking Water SRFs with their Clean Water Act SRFs
(pertaining to wastewater systems). States are permitted to transfer up to
33 percent of funds between the two accounts.
Fifteen percent of a state's grant must be made available to systems
serving 10,000 people or fewer. In addition, EPA may reserve two percent
of the SRF appropriation to provide technical assistance to small systems.
Projects eligible for SRF funds are capital expenditures for:
compliance with national primary drinking water regulations; upgrading of
drinking water treatment systems; replacement of private wells where they
present a significant health threat; and restructuring of systems (such as
system consolidation) and the development of alternative water supply
sources. States may also use a percentage of their federal grant to
support programs for source water protection, capacity development, and
treatment facility operator certification.
NSPE
Position
If the federal government is to set increasingly rigorous
demands for drinking water, the federal government needs to provide states
and localities with the financial resources to meet these standards.
NSPE supports the full funding of both the Drinking Water
SRF and the Clean Water SRF, at the authorized levels.
NSPE
Action
NSPE
is a founding member of the Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) which
completed a study to examine the feasibility of alternatives to expanding
federal commitment to assist to meet the estimated $23 billion annual gap
in Clean and Safe Drinking Water infrastructure funding.
NSPE has supported SRF appropriations at the authorized level in each
fiscal year.
Status
The SDWA is reauthorized through FY '03. However, Congress has already
begun working on reauthorization of the SDWA.
In May 2002, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee cleared
legislation (S. 1961; S. Rept. 107-228) reauthorizing the Safe Drinking
Water Act (SDWSRF) and Clean Water Act (CWSRF) State revolving loan funds.
The bill would provide $15 billion over five years for the SDWSRF and $20
billion over five years for the CWSRF for wastewater systems. The
legislation would create a five-year, $5 billion grant program for small,
public drinking water systems to assist them in meeting federal water
regulations. S. 1961 would also provide $7 million per-year for five years
to provide technical assistance to small water systems.
Legislation to reauthorize the SDWA has been introduced in the House
(H.R. 3792), but has not seen action.
In July 2002, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved S. 2797 (S.
Rept. 107-222) which includes FY 2003 funding for the EPA. The SDWA and
CWA revolving loan funds would receive significant funding increases over
the White House request for the programs. The bill includes $875 million
for the SDWSRF and $1.4 billion for the CWASRF. The Bush administration's
budget had proposed funding the DWSRF at $850 million and the CWSRF at
$1.21 billion.
The House Appropriations Committee has not yet taken action on its EPA
funding bill for FY 2003.
NSPE
References
Position Statement on Water Resources - 7//96
Professional Policy No. 34-Utilization and Conservation of Natural
Resources - 7/00
Water Infrastructure Network Study: Clean and Safe Water for the 21st
Century - 5/00 http://www.win-water.org/win_reports/pub2/winow.pdf
Staff
Contact
Lee White -- 703/684-2874 or email lwhite@nspe.org
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