Legislation that would invest $50 billion over the next 5 years on wastewater treatment infrastructure programs was recently introduced in Congress. The Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2021, sponsored by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon), represents truly historic levels of funding and would reauthorize the SRF program for the first time in over 30 years. Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs), which provide loans to local communities for wastewater treatment projects, have long been the mechanism to deliver this federal funding. This is only the first step on a multi-committee journey for the legislation. The House Ways and Means Committee will be tasked with identifying a funding source for these ambitious levels, and due to the bill's type, it will be subject to annual appropriations. Receptiveness in the Senate is also unclear at this point.
NUCA lobbyists were part of a very small group of stakeholders that were given advance knowledge of the bill and provided an opportunity to make comments and suggestions long before introduced. Belonging to a trade group with a national reach and stellar reputation like NUCA puts your company at the leading edge of the legislative process. We will continue to advocate for the passage of this historic funding bill. The bill doesn’t address drinking-water infrastructure which falls under the jurisdiction of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.