Biden infrastructure plan includes billions for "100 percent" lead service line replacement, addressing PFAS in drinking water

Monday Morning Briefing

April 5, 2021

Biden infrastructure plan includes billions for
“100 percent” lead service line replacement,
addressing PFAS in drinking water
April 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM

A massive $2 trillion-plus infrastructure plan outlined by the Biden administration last week
proposes devoting $111 billion to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, with a major
focus on eliminating “all lead pipes and service lines in … drinking water systems.”

Dubbed the American Jobs Plan (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-
releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/), the proposal does not include
detailed programmatic funding allotments but provides a broad outline of infrastructure
priorities that Congress will need to mold into legislative text. Like the American Rescue
Plan first outlined (https://www.amwa.net/article/president-elect-pushes-additional-water-
rate-assistance-new-stimulus-blueprint) by President Biden in January, many details
(https://www.amwa.net/article/house-approves-american-rescue-plan-water-customer-
assistance-funds) would have to be filled in by lawmakers before final passage
(https://www.amwa.net/article/covid-19-package-carries-billions-dollars-aid-communities-
low-income-water-ratepayers) on Capitol Hill.

According to the White House outline, $45 billion would be set aside to “replace 100 percent
of the nation’s lead pipes and service lines” via EPA’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
(SRF) and programs authorized through the WIIN Act of 2016. While the proposal would
not explicitly require water systems to replace all lead service lines, a subsequent
presidential tweet (https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1377239825984671744) said it was
“long past time” to address the issue. Meanwhile, the stated goal of 100 percent lead
service line replacement comes as EPA contemplates (https://www.amwa.net/article/final-
lead-and-copper-rule-revisions-effective-date-delayed-three-months) reopening the recently
finalized Lead and Copper Rule Revisions to changes that could conceivably include a
replacement mandate.

Rounding out the plan’s $111 billion water sector investment is $56 billion to “upgrade and
modernize America’s drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems, tackle new

contaminants, and support clean water infrastructure across rural America,” and $10 billion
“to monitor and remediate PFAS in drinking water.” Congress would finalize the amount of
money actually set aside for these purposes and what programs they would flow through,
but lawmakers would likely look to EPA’s SRF and WIFIA programs, along with USDA rural
water programs, to distribute the funding.

Climate resilience represents another major focus of the plan and could also serve as an
avenue for water systems to receive additional dollars. While details are scarce, the plan
calls on Congress to “invest in protection from extreme wildfires, coastal resilience to sea-
level rise and hurricanes,” while also providing “funding for the western drought crisis by
investing in water efficiency and recycling programs.”

In the coming weeks, Democratic congressional leaders are expected to begin shaping the
administration’s plan into a legislative proposal. But leading Republicans have already
expressed concern about the scope of the plan – prompting speculation that it may only be
able to pass under reconciliation, a parliamentary procedure that allows passage by a
simple majority vote but also prohibits the inclusion of policy provisions that lack direct
federal revenue or deficit implications.

EPA announces public engagement series on
LCR revisions
April 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM

EPA has announced (https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/lead-and-
copper-rule-revisions-virtual-engagements) a series of virtual public engagements to take
further input on the agency’s revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). The agency is
specifically focusing on individuals and communities that are most at-risk of exposure to
lead in drinking water. First, a series of listening sessions will be held on April 28 and May 5.
Following these engagements, EPA intends to host virtual community roundtables for local
organizations to discuss LCR-related topics and provide their perspectives to the agency.
These roundtables will begin in May and will focus on communities that have been
disproportionately impacted by lead in drinking water.

This announcement follows on the heels of EPA’s decision
(https://www.amwa.net/article/final-lead-and-copper-rule-revisions-effective-date-delayed-
three-months) to delay the date on which the final LCR revisions take effect, or become
codified. A final rule (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-03-12/pdf/2021-
05271.pdf) published in the Federal Register last month pushed back the effective date
from March 16 until June 17, 2021, to allow for this additional engagement. Additionally,
EPA released a proposed rule (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-03-

12/pdf/2021-05270.pdf) to delay the effective date of the rule even further until December
16, 2021, and a corresponding extension of the rule’s compliance deadline to September
16, 2024.

AMWA urges Treasury to keep recovery
dollars focused on water infrastructure
April 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM

AMWA signed a letter (https://www.amwa.net/letter/letter-treasury-american-rescue-plan-
implementation) to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week asking her department to
follow Congress’ direction for states and communities to spend an infusion of COVID-19 aid
dollars on water and sewer infrastructure projects.

The American Rescue Plan Act signed into law last month included
(https://www.amwa.net/article/covid-19-package-carries-billions-dollars-aid-communities-
low-income-water-ratepayers) $350 billion in aid for state, local, tribal, and territorial
governments that may be used for several defined purposes, including for “necessary
investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.” The Treasury Department will
begin to distribute the funds by mid-May, and before that time is expected to issue
guidance detailing precisely how the dollars may be spent.

However, stakeholder groups in the construction and transportation sectors have recently
urged (https://www.enr.com/articles/51496-construction-groups-seek-billions-in-rescue-act-
aid-for-transpo-projects) Treasury to broadly interpret the statutory language to allow states
and localities to spend these funds on transportation infrastructure projects. Doing so would
appear to contradict congressional intent, and it would also reduce the amount of funding
available for water and wastewater projects.

The letter sent last week by AMWA, along with the American Water Works Association, the
National Association of Clean Water Agencies, and the Association of California Water
Agencies, referenced the expected financial impact of the pandemic on the water sector
and asked Treasury to provide “clear guidance recognizing that infrastructure projects
funded by states and localities with dollars from the fiscal recovery funds must focus on the
water, sewer, and broadband sectors.”

In rare move, Regan wipes EPA Science
Advisory Board clean; seeks new nominations

April 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM

Last week, EPA announced (https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/administrator-regan-
directs-epa-reset-critical-science-focused-federal-advisory) Administrator Regan’s decision
to “reset” and reestablish the memberships of both the agency’s Science Advisory Board
(SAB) and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). The chartered SAB is
comprised of non-EPA scientists, engineers, and economists who are appointed by the EPA
administrator and provide independent expert advice to the agency. In EPA’s news release,
Regan explains that “Resetting these two scientific advisory committees will ensure the
agency receives the best possible scientific insight to support our work to protect human
health and the environment.” This move is partly in response to an action
(https://www.amwa.net/article/new-directive-epa-administrator-pruitt-bars-grant-recipients-
advisory-committees) taken under the previous administration that barred recipients of any
EPA grant from serving on one of the agency’s federal advisory committees, including the
SAB and CASAC.

Alongside this announcement, EPA published a notice
(https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-04-01/pdf/2021-06647.pdf) in the Federal
Register on April 1 requesting nominations to fill the newly vacated positions. EPA is looking
for individuals with a large variety of expertise, including drinking water, drinking water
engineering, water quality, and water quantity and reuse, to serve three-year terms. In
addition to serving on the full advisory board, nominees may also fill positions on the SAB’s
standing committees, one of which is solely for drinking water. Nominations are due May 3.

Supreme Court sides with Georgia in water
dispute with Florida
April 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Georgia in the state’s
nearly decade-long dispute with Florida related to the “proper apportionment of interstate
waters.”

Authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Court’s unanimous 9-0 opinion
(https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/22o142_m648.pdf) in the case of Florida vs.
Georgia dismissed Florida’s petition for a court order that would ensure more freshwater
flows from the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers, which Florida claimed were necessary to
revive the state’s wild oyster population. However, the court agreed with two special
masters who had earlier been appointed to review the case and found that Florida had
failed to prove the collapse of the state’s oyster fisheries was due to an overuse of shared

waters by Georgia farmers in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River basin.

Justice Barrett’s opinion suggested the collapse might instead be due to Florida’s
mismanagement of its fisheries. The court noted that regardless of the true cause of the
collapse, it is not up to the justices to parse through a complex scientific dispute such as
this.

Water sector opportunities listed on AMWA
job board
April 5, 2021 at 5:00 AM

Assistant Program Administrator (Water System Operations)
Honolulu Board of Water Supply
Honolulu, Hawaii

Operations Superintendent
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Stationary Engineer
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Chief Executive Officer
Onondaga County Water Authority
Syracuse, New York

Post a job or view listings today! (https://jobs.amwa.net/jobs)

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