Two Draft Water Infrastructure Bills Are Announced

Two U.S. Senators on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, John Barrasso (R-WY) and Tom Carper (D-DE), have released drafts of two pieces of water infrastructure legislation: America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 (AWIA 2020) and the Drinking Water Infrastructure Act of 2020.

The draft of AWIA 2020 includes approximately $17 billion in new federal authorizations to increase water storage, provide protection from dangerous floodwaters, deepen nationally significant ports, and maintain the navigability of inland waterways across the country. It will also repair aging wastewater and irrigation systems. The draft of the Drinking Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 includes approximately $2.5 billion in federal authorizations and reauthorizes programs under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to provide resources and technical assistance to communities to help meet their drinking water needs.

“These two draft pieces of legislation address critical water infrastructure on which everyone in this country relies,” Carper said in a statement. “As drafted, these bills would improve projects’ resiliency to extreme weather events, increase the transparency and accountability of federally funded projects, and ensure that every community can benefit from federal funding and support.”

Barrasso and Carper serve as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW). In lieu of a hearing, the EPW Committee is holding an information-gathering process on both pieces of draft legislation, which started on April 22, 2020.

Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

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