By Rich Anderson
March 5, 2007

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure voted 55 to 23 on February 7 to pass H.R. 720, the Water Quality Financing Act of 2007. The bill is sponsored by full Committee Chairman James Oberstar (MN), and more than 20 co'sponsors. The legislation reauthorizes the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) loan program by authorizing (not appropriating) $20 billion over the next five years. The U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted policy in June 2006 to urge Congress to recapitalize the CWSRF at $1.355 billion or more annually. The House measure meets and exceeds the Conference request. The bill should advance to the full House for consideration.

H.R. 720 contains a provision on watershed pilot projects intended to promote cooperative efforts between municipalities and private land owners to reduce adverse impacts on water quality from nonpoint sources of pollution. Another series of provisions extends the eligibility for federal financial assistance to projects that replace/rehabilitate sewage collection systems, or build new sewage collection systems. The bill contains a provision that would extend the SRF loan repayment period to the lesser of 30 years or the design life of the project in place of the current 20 year repayment term. Another provision places the condition of developing and implementing a fiscal sustainability plan for the critical assets involved in a new SRF loan project at the treatment facility. Another provision was inserted that would forgive loan principal or provide negative interest loans for innovative or alternative approaches involving: nonstructural protection of surface waters, new forms of waste treatment, or pollutant trading.

The bill authorizes a new study on funding mechanisms and funding sources to establish a Clean Water Trust Fund. A report by the Comptroller General is due to the House no later than January 1, 2008

The legislation is far from being a “done-deal.” The Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works has jurisdiction over the Clean Water Act, and is likely to combine provisions to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act at the same time it proposes to amend the Clean Water Act. By combining the Safe and Clean Water provisions in the Senate, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will have to take up the Safe Drinking Water provisions separately from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that has jurisdiction over the Clean Water Act. Finally, the current legislation is authorizing legislation only, and to actually get the money from the U.S. Treasury to the states the Congress must approve spending legislation.