We will hear more from Nick during the WQA Mid-Year Leadership Conference Sept. 14-16 in Oak Brook, IL. He is scheduled to present at the Opening Session and Breakfast Sept. 15, which is to be live-streamed for virtual attendees. More details on the event and registration for in-person or virtual attendance is available at wqa.org/mylc.

And now for Nick's report on the infrastructure bill:

On Tuesday, Aug. 10, the Senate passed a sweeping infrastructure bill that includes approximately $550 billion in new spending. If passed into law, the bill would increase funding for a number of traditional infrastructure items such as roads and bridges, passenger and freight rail, public transportation, and, importantly for WQA members, water infrastructure.

Below is a brief overview of provisions in the Senate bill that are relevant to the water treatment industry, as well as information on the next steps for the bill as Congress aims to pass it into law.

In total, the Senate infrastructure bill includes $55 billion in new spending for water and wastewater programs and projects. This funding includes $23.4 billion for the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) and $15 billion specifically for lead service line replacement distributed through the Drinking Water SRF.

While Point-of-Use and Point-of-Entry filters are eligible for Drinking Water SRF funding if they are owned and maintained by a public water system and are used as a compliance treatment technology, the replacement of used filter cartridges are considered Operating and Maintenance costs and are not eligible for SRF funds. For more information on Drinking Water SRF project eligibility, the EPA has provided a comprehensive eligibility document.

The bill also includes $10 billion to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) contamination, with $5 billion being distributed through the SRFs and $5 billion going to the small and disadvantaged community grant program.

The infrastructure package also includes a significant number of water policy provisions, the majority of which come from S.914 - The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021. The text of that original bill can be found here. Included below are the most relevant sections of the Senate infrastructure package to WQA and its members.

The provision of the bill with the most direct impact on WQA members is a change to EPA’s Assistance for Small and Disadvantaged Communities Program. This program provides grants to disadvantaged

communities or communities with a population of under 10,000 that lack household drinking water or wastewater services or that are served by a public water system that violates or exceeds a requirement of the national primary drinking water regulations.

The Senate infrastructure package would modify this program to allow grant funds to be used to purchase POU and POE filtration systems certified to remove contaminants of concern and to provide information regarding proper filtration use and maintenance.

The Senate package would authorize the program for $70 million in fiscal year 2022, $80 million in fiscal year 2023, $100 million in fiscal year 2024, $120 million in fiscal year 2025, and $140 million in fiscal year 2026. And as mentioned above, the bill would also authorize and appropriate approximately $5 billion to the program specifically for remediation of PFAS contamination in drinking water.

Additional information on the Assistance for Small and Disadvantaged Communities Program can be found here.

The Senate package would reauthorize EPA’s lead reduction project grants for five years and authorizes $100 million annually for that program through 2026. The program is intended for lead service line replacement, but a provision in the Senate bill requires that eligible grant applicants demonstrate that they have considered feasible alternatives to lead service line replacement for reducing lead levels in drinking water. While this provision primarily suggests corrosion control as the alternative, applicants may choose to evaluate the feasibility of filters.

The Senate package would increase the authorization for the Voluntary School and Childcare Lead Testing Grant Program. If the bill is passed into law, the program would receive $30 million for fiscal year 2022, $35 million for fiscal year 2023, $40 million for fiscal year 2024, $45 million for fiscal year 2025 and $50 million for fiscal year 2026.

The package would create a new grant program for public water systems that serve a population of 100,000 or less or service a disadvantaged community. The new program is designed to deploy new drinking water infrastructure technology that is demonstrated to improve the treatment, monitoring, affordability, efficiency, and safety of drinking water. The program is authorized with $50 million dollars over five years.

The Senate-passed bill now heads to the House of Representatives. The House can either choose to pass the Senate bill and send it directly to President Biden or request a conference negotiation with the Senate to reconcile the differences between the Senate bill and the House’s own infrastructure package. It is currently more likely that the House will consider the Senate bill, though that decision is still pending. 

The timing of House action on the Senate bill remains unclear. The House will return to DC on Aug. 23 to consider a budget resolution but may not take a vote on the infrastructure proposal until September or potentially later in the fall. WQA will keep members updated as this bill moves through the legislative process.