Jackson Outlines 2010 Budget Request at Senate Hearing
During testimony on May 12 before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson explained that a large portion of the $10.5 billion request would be dedicated to the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds.
Jackson said that $3.9 billion -- $2.4 billion for CWSRF and $1.5 billion – would help build, improve, and repair the infrastructure that provides reliable and safe sources of water.
"We estimate that this 157-percent funding increase in the state revolving funds will finance 1,000 clean water and 700 drinking water projects across America. These investments channel critical funding for water system pipe replacements and help address an estimated 240,000 water pipe breaks that occur across America each year and waste millions of gallons of water," she said.
The administrator noted that the funds are repaid with interest that is recycled back into the program. "We estimate that for every federal dollar invested, approximately two dollars in financing are provided to municipalities," Jackson added.
Other water-related budget matters include:
- $475 million for Great Lakes restoration programs and projects that strategically target the most significant problems, such as aquatic invasive species, nonpoint source pollution, toxics in sediment, and habitat and species loss.
- $229 million for Water Pollution Control grants, which assist state and tribal efforts to restore and maintain water quality.
- $200.9 million for Nonpoint Source Program grants to states, territories, and tribes. EPA’s goal is to reduce annually the amount of runoff of phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediment through Clean Water Act Section 319-funded projects by 4.5 million pounds, 8.5 million pounds, and 700,000 tons, respectively. These grants enable states to use a range of tools to implement their programs including: both non-regulatory and regulatory programs, technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, technology transfer, and demonstration projects.
- $105.7 million for Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) grants. These grants provide assistance to implement and enforce National Primary Drinking Water Regulations to ensure the safety drinking water resources and to protect public health. In FY 2010, EPA will emphasize that states use their PWSS funds to ensure that drinking water systems of all sizes meet new and existing regulatory requirements.
- $160 million to support the agency’s homeland security efforts, including applied research for decontamination methods and agents; ensuring trained personnel and key lab capacities are in place in the event of multiple large-scale catastrophic incidents; and enhancing critical water infrastructure security efforts.
- An increase of $9 million to fully fund five Water Security Initiative pilot cooperative agreements. The initiative will include continued design and demonstration of a system to test and evaluate the appropriate response to drinking water contamination threats. Adoption of effective water security guidance on contamination systems will be issued upon completion of these projects.