Our customers are currently excluded from some federal funding that would help offset bill increases.
Our job is to provide our customers with safe, reliable service. To deliver on that commitment we must make important investments in critical wastewater and/or water infrastructure.
We are not alone in this need as the entire industry faces a growing challenge as infrastructure across the nation is aging. A lack of, or delay in, needed investment could put public health at risk. In a 2021 report on the health of U.S. infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the wastewater sector a D+ grade and noted that it will take billions of dollars of investment to get back on track. Policy leaders are taking meaningful steps to speed infrastructure improvements - and help manage the impact on customer bills - with programs like the state revolving fund (SRF).
The SRF was established under the Clean Water Act and offers taxpayer-funded low-interest loans to help utilities fund investments at a lower total cost. Today, publicly owned systems can use the money for water and wastewater projects, which sets an important precedent. But there’s a problem. Privately operated companies like ours can only apply for funds for water system investments. Unless the program is expanded to allow all utilities access to water and wastewater project funding, then millions of customers who have paid their fair share to support the SRF program won’t get the same benefit as their neighbors. As a result, improvements to our wastewater system could cost more for our customers than the exact same projects at a municipal system.
That’s not fair and we’re working on behalf of our customers to fix it. Our company supports a piece of federal legislation, H.R. 250, the Clean Water SRF Parity Act, that would expand the loan program. This expansion would give our company, and our customers, access to the same lower cost funding that publicly operated systems can now receive.
You can help. Please contact your Federal Representatives and urge them to support H.R. 250.