Maintain funding levels for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds and WIFIA

Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties offer the following recommendations regarding the Senate and House Appropriations Committees’ Interior- Environment Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations bills that impact a number of environmental and water-related priorities for local governments. [...] Maintain funding levels for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds and WIFIA Local governments fund 98 percent of all capital, operations and maintenance investment in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in the United States, primarily through user fees and bonds. [...] As the fundamental financial mechanisms used to enable low-cost financing for water and wastewater infrastructure, any reduction in the amount of funds made available through the SRFs and WIFIA represents a direct threat to local governments’ ability to provide safe, reliable and affordable drinking water and wastewater services. [...] Fund water infrastructure grant programs While the House and Senate Interior-Environment FY 2024 Appropriations bills fund some water infrastructure grant programs, the IIJA authorized a number of additional water infrastructure grant programs that would support local governments in providing clean and safe water for their communities. [...] We have serious concerns that not only will local governments be unable to afford the required costs to comply with this regulation, but also that the Agency has underestimated the cascading impacts this regulation will have on local communities, primarily in the form of higher water bills.