House approves funding for clean water infrastructure upgrades

Environment News Service: A bill that will help bridge the multi-billion dollar annual gap between wastewater infrastructure needs and available funding is working its way through Congress. The Water Quality Investment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1262), approved Friday by the House, renews the federal government's commitment to clean water by authorizing $19.8 billion over the next five years for wastewater infrastructure and other efforts to improve water quality.

The centerpiece of this legislation is the authorization of $13.8 billion over five years for the Clean Water State Revolving Funds, the principal source of federal funding for meeting the nation's wastewater infrastructure needs. States would use such grants along with their own funds to make low-interest loans to communities and grants to Indian tribes to construct wastewater treatment facilities and related projects.

"Despite the obvious need for clean, potable water, federal funding for Clean Water SRFs has been dramatically cut in recent years, but that is about to change," said Congressman James Oberstar of Minnesota, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. "Investing in our wastewater infrastructure is a critical priority, both for Congress and the Obama administration, that will have a significant beneficial impact on the quality of the nation's waters and environment, as well as the protection of public health," he said….

Wastewater treatment plant, shot by Fanghong, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2