Water infrastructure budgets to see massive cuts in 2012

Published 4 April 2011

Next year water infrastructure projects and programs are expected to see massive budget cuts as President Obama has proposed slashing infrastructure spending at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) will see nearly $400 million cuts and the Clean Water SRF will be cut nearly $600 million; according to Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, these cuts in SRF budgets reflect a return to a more “sustainable level”; states worry that cuts will make it difficult to fund future infrastructure upgrades; reports have shown that the United States faces a $500 billion shortfall for water infrastructure funding over the next twenty years

Next year water infrastructure projects and programs are expected to see massive budget cuts as President Obama has proposed slashing infrastructure spending at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Under the president’s proposed $3.72 trillion budget for fiscal year 2012, the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) will see nearly $400 million cuts and the Clean Water SRF will be cut nearly $600 million.

The Drinking Water SRF is designed to help states finance infrastructure improvements to deliver safe drinking water to residents, while the Clean Water SRF helps fund water quality protection projects like wastewater treatment, watershed management, and nonpoint source pollution control.

Terry Sullivan, the director of public Utilities in Fall River, Massachusetts, believes that the cuts will make it more difficult for states like Massachusetts to fund needed upgrades to water pipes and plants in the future.

“I think that anybody who works in this field knows that if there isn’t a revolving fund, these projects aren’t going to get done,” Sullivan said

According to Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, these cuts in SRF budgets reflect a return to a more “sustainable level” after sharp increases in funding as part of the economic stimulus package.

Last year the Clean Water SRF received $2.1 billion dollars and the Drinking Water SRF received $1.387 billion.

The administration has also asked that Congress cut $157 million in water infrastructure ear marks.

 

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) opposed the planned cuts stating that reductions in federal funding would hurt states facing similar budget shortfalls.

“Budget cuts of any kind at this time to the Clean Water Act (CWA) program ignore the very real financial constraints of states and municipalities to implement a growing array of increasingly costly CWA requirements. While NACWA recognizes the austere budgetary times under which the federal government must operate, these same circumstances are being experienced in municipalities and rate-paying households across the country,” the organization said.

The NACWA is particularly concerned as the budget cuts come at a time when the EPA and the Government Accountability have noted that the United States faces a $500 billion shortfall for water infrastructure funding over the next twenty years.

 

The EPA is expected to see an overall decrease in funding of 13 percent from $10.3 billion in 2010 to a proposed $8.97 billion.

In addition, the Army Corps of Engineers will lose almost $1 billion, primarily from reductions in water infrastructure programs.