Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
No. 99
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 Page A-6
ISSN 1521-9402
News
Water Pollution
Whitman Says Cost Saving, New Technologies Needed To Improve Infrastructure
Systems
Congressional efforts to increase funding authorization levels for water
infrastructure needs will prove inadequate unless wastewater utilities reduce
costs and develop innovative technologies to improve aging systems,
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said May
21.
"Money from Washington is not enough," Whitman told a conference hosted by the
Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies. "We must harness the power of the
public and private sectors both in financing and developing new technologies and
innovations that will lower future costs."
Whitman's speech at AMSA's 2002 National Environmental Policy Forum comes less
than one week after the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved
legislation (S.1961) that would significantly boost authorized funding levels
for both the clean water and drinking water state revolving funds (SRF) .
Sponsored by Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.), the chairman of the Senate committee,
the water bill would authorize $35 billion over five years for both funds.
Current authorization levels are $1.35 billion anually for clean water SRF and
$1 billion annually for the drinking water SRF (97 DEN A-2, 05/20/02) .
Whitman said more than $19.7 billion in federal money has been provided to
capitalize the SRF since it was first authorized in 1987."History has shown that
SRFs are the most effective tools that we have to support your work," she said
to the utility groups.
In addition to infrastructure needs, the funds are used by states to fund
nonpoint source water pollution control programs and other measures aimed at
improving water quality. Whitman said EPA is increasingly examining options to
allocate funding that addresses infrastructure needs and improves water quality.
"We must use a holistic approach that looks at an entire watershed to better
manage our water through strategic and efficient conservation, reuse, and better
coordination with local planning," she said. "All of those things must come into
play because they all support one another."
Aide Says Huge Funding Boost Unlikely
Whitman's sentiments were echoed by Frank Cushing, staff director of the of the
House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies, which
has jurisdiction over EPA funding.
Cushing said it is important to note that the Jeffords bill only increases
authorized levels of SRF funding. He said a substantial increase in SRF
allocations is unlikely for fiscal year 2003, given defense needs,
anti-terrorism efforts, and other budget priorities.
"I wish I could tell you there's going to be a lot of money for you this year,
next year, and the year after that," he said. "Indeed there is going to be a lot
of money, but it's in relative terms and not based on what the need is."
The EPA budget request for fiscal 2003 includes $1.25 billion for the clean
water SRF and $850 million for the drinking water SRF. Whitman said the agency
will soon release its "gap analysis" identifying the difference between
infrastructure needs and spending.
A coalition of drinking water groups, wastewater groups, and municipal
organizations known as the Water Infrastructure Network has estimated the cost
of addressing pressing infrastructure needs at $1 trillion over the next 20
years. A draft EPA estimate places the figure at closer to $300 billion (60 DEN
A-7, 03/28/01) .
"It doesn't matter which estimate you use," Whitman said. "The federal
government is not going have enough money to do this on its own; the states,
local governments, and utilities certainly are not. It's going to take all of us
together and it is going to take a creative leveraging of the dollars that we
have available plus an effort to focus on new technologies, on better, less
expensive ways of reaching the end of the day."
Security Update
Whitman also updated AMSA members on agency efforts to improve security and
anti-terrorism guidance to water and wastewater utilities.
She said that EPA's Homeland Security Group, chaired by Deputy Administrator
Linda Fisher, is nearing completion of an agencywide strategic plan to protect
against terrorist attack
"Our Water Protection Task Force has also been working with the Centers for
Disease Control and Department of Defense to access the most current available
knowledge that we have regarding both chemical and biological threats," Whitman
added. "From the source to the tap, this is a comprehensive review."
Whitman applauded efforts by wastewater facilities to reduce stockpiles of
hazardous materials. She said a number of treatment plants rapidly switched from
liquid chlorine to safer disinfectants such as sodium hypochlorite bleach in the
days and weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
"I would urge you to look for other ways to reduce the hazards up front beyond
just increasing security at the perimeter," she said.
By Mike Ferullo