White House Allocates $5.8 Billion to Upgrade US Water Infrastructure

Tap water is seen in this photo illustration in Washington, on Aug. 19, 2019. Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images

The Biden administration is distributing another $5.8 billion to help upgrade water infrastructure in communities across the nation, the White House announced on Feb. 20.

The funding comes from President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was signed into law during his first year in office, according to the White House.

Under that legislation, a total of $50 billion has been designated to improve water infrastructure throughout the United States.

“President Biden and I believe that every person in our country should have a right to clean water no matter where they live or how much money they make. That is why our administration made clean water a national priority and delivered the largest investment in America’s water infrastructure in history,” said Vice President Kamala Harris in a press release announcing the latest funding.

“With this investment, we are continuing our urgent work to remove every lead pipe in the country and ensure that every American has access to safe and reliable drinking water,” the vice president added.

According to the White House, more than two million people in America have no access to running water, while tens of millions more lack access to safe and reliable drinking water and sanitation. More than nine million homes, daycares, and businesses receive their water through a lead pipe.

Lead is toxic and there is no safe level of exposure, with consumption leading to devastating effects on childhood development, behavior, and academic achievement, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Children from low-income households and those who live in housing built before 1978, before lead in paint was banned, are at the greatest risk of lead exposure, the CDC warns.

Funding Addresses Emerging Contaminants

The latest billion-dollar investment from the Biden administration will help fund projects across all 50 states in the form of state-run, low-interest loan programs aimed at addressing key challenges, the White House said.

Specifically, it includes $2.6 billion via the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRF) for wastewater and stormwater infrastructure and $3.2 billion via the Drinking Water SRF for drinking water infrastructure.

The White House said the funding will address everything from inadequate wastewater or sanitation systems that put communities’ health at risk to addressing emerging contaminants like perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.”

Such chemicals have been linked to several serious illnesses, including cancer and birth defects. Last year, they were found in 45 percent of water taps in the United States, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also said last year that two of the most dangerous types of forever chemicals—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)—were found at unsafe levels in between 7.8 and 8.5 percent of public water systems throughout the United States, with high concentrations of the toxic chemicals discovered in Fresno, California, and Dallas, Texas.

Many of the issues plaguing the nation’s water infrastructure are due to a lack of investment, according to the EPA.

The latest funding allocations bring the total awarded to states for water infrastructure projects under the Infrastructure Law to $22 billion.

“With $50 billion in total, the largest investment in water infrastructure in our nation’s history, EPA will enable communities across the nation to ensure safer drinking water for their residents and rebuild vital clean water infrastructure to protect public health for decades to come,” said EPA administrator Michael S. Regan.