Welcome to the Water Resources Coalition's August newsletter. This Water Resources Coalition newsletter will once again focus on all of the progress being made as we try to achieve the development, implementation, and funding of a comprehensive, national water resources policy to ensure a sustainable, productive economy; a healthy aquatic ecology; and public health and safety. Have a safe and happy summer!

House Makes Moves Toward a Clean Water Trust Fund

The Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on "Opportunities and Challenges in the Creation of a Clean Water Trust Fund" on July 15th. The hearing emphasized the increasing need in wastewater infrastructure improvements and addressed meeting the water quality goals of the Clean Water Act. Dale Jacobson, P.E., BCEE, President of the Environment and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, testified that "the trust fund should provide a deficit-neutral, dependable source of revenue to help states and local communities replace, repair, and rehabilitate critical drinking - water and wastewater treatment facilities.

Meanwhile, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act, (H.R. 3202,) the same day. The bill would create a federal trust fund to finance improvements to wastewater and drinking-water infrastructure, primarily through increased loans from the State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) programs. Some of the money, however, would go to local governments in the form of grants. The bill is co-sponsored by three Republicans and one Democrat.

If enacted, the Blumenauer bill would raise between $10 billion and $11 billion annually through 2015 by means of new federal fees on water-based beverages in containers of five gallons or less, consumer products disposed of in wastewater (such as toilet paper, toothpaste, soaps and detergents), pharmaceutical products (prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines like aspirin), and corporate profits in excess of $4 million a year.

House and Senate Pass FY 2010 Water Spending Bills

Only July 17th the House passed the FY 2010 Energy and Water spending bill. The bill, H.R. 3183, passed with a vote of 320-97. Water infrastructure projects run by the US Army Corp of Engineers will get $5.5 billion, $139 million more than in FY 2009 and $416 million more than the Obama Administration recommended. Water resources projects run by the Bureau of Reclamation will received $1 billion, which is $38 million less than in FY09 and $17 million more than the White House proposed.

The Senate passed their version of the Energy and Water spending bill on July 29th. The $34.3 billion bill, passed with a vote of 85-9. Included in the Senate version of the bill is $5.4 billion for the US Army Corps of Engineers' water infrastructure projects, an increase of $2.6 million from FY 09, and $1.13 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation, an increase of $54.9 million from FY 09.

For more information on the House version see the WRC Legislative Brief on HR 3183

For more information on the Senate version see the WRC Legislative Brief on S. 1436

House Clears Funding for Beach Monitoring

The House passed a bill that would toughen requirements for beach water testing and mandate stricter public notification standards on July 29th with heavy bipartisan support. H.R. 2093 raised the authorized grants allocated by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH) from $30 million to $40 million a year and extended the legislation through 2013. The bill also orders states that receive grant money from the BEACH Act to more quickly notify the public when the water is contaminated, so that beach closures can be more immediate and the risk of related illnesses declines.

A companion bill sponsored by Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and George Voinovich (R-OH) cleared the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last month, but has yet to be taken up by the full Senate.

Panel Proposes New Framework for Water Infrastructure Planning

Congress, the states, and local governments must work together to redefine the term "water infrastructure" and develop new ways of paying for vitally needed improvements that do not involve actual sources of revenue, said a panel of water resources experts convened by the Aspen Institute this week.

The panel recommended that water infrastructure be viewed in a larger context. "The 21st century definition of sustainable water infrastructure includes the traditional man-made or built infrastructure components and the natural infrastructure, such as rivers, lakes, streams, groundwater aquifers, floodplains, floodways, wetlands, and the watersheds that serve or are affected by water and wastewater systems," their report said.

The Institute, a nonpartisan policy think tank, also said policymakers need to think about how to pay for water infrastructure in new ways.

"We submit that a crisis-driven approach, based on the 'investment gap' analysis, will be insufficient to meet the growing challenges facing the nation's water infrastructure," the institute said. "Rather than looking ahead with apprehension, a new framework that looks ahead with intention, by reframing the issue from one focused solely on an 'infrastructure gap' toward a more sustainable model or approach to funding water and wastewater infrastructure, is needed."

But the institute's panel ducked the question of how to pay for an estimated $300 billion to $500 billion in man-made infrastructure over the next 20 years. It also refused to say exactly what type of "sustainable model" of funding will be required. The panel specifically declined to endorse the creation of a federal trust fund contained in legislation recently introduced in the House by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR).

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Soliciting Projects for WRDA 2010

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has issued a letter kicking off the solicitation process for the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2010. WRDA is a comprehensive water resources law, typically authorized every two years, therefore it is time for Congress to develop WRDA for the 111th Congress.

Any projects submitted to the 110th Congress will have to be resubmitted and it is recommened that you contact your local US Army Corps of Engineers office regarding any potential requests.

The information necessary to submit a completed and valid WRDA project request includes:

Local Corps District name
Corps contact with phone number
City in which project will be carried out
County in which project will be carried out
Project purpose
Project description
Non-federal project sponsor
A letter of support from the non-federal sponsor
2 Congressional Earmark Certification Forms with original Member signature for each project

For any questions about the process please contact the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Majority staff at 202-225-0060, or Minority staff at 202-225-4360.

President's Draft Floodplain Plan Expands Reach to 500-Year Floods

President Obama has prepared a draft Executive Order that would require every federal agency to ensure that the nation's floodplains are protected in order to reduce the loss of life and property to flooding. The draft order also would expand federal protections for floodplains from the 100-year floodplain requirement now in federal insurance regulations to cover a 500-year flood area for development or flood-control actions in areas where even a slight chance of flooding would be too great as a result of the actions.

"Floods have caused a greater loss of life and property and have devastated more families and communities in the United States than all other natural hazards," says the draft order. "Despite the expenditure of billions of tax dollars trying to manage floodwaters and guide wise use of floodplains, flood damages continue to increase and every year billions are spent in response to flood disasters."

Although stating that "cost-effective and environmentally sound floodplain management is shared among federal, state, tribal, and local governments," the order would require each federal agency to take action "when appropriate" to reduce the risk of flood losses.

Click here to see the President's Draft Executive Order

USGS Releases Study on Nutrient & Sediment Concentrations in Rivers

The US Geological Survey released a study on changes in nutrient and sediment concentrations in streams and rivers between 1993 and 2003 and how these trends corresponded to changes in stream flow and nutrient sources. Phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations remained relatively stable in about half of the streams assessed nationwide from 1993 to 2003; however, the pattern did vary in some regions, including increases in phosphorus concentrations in more than half of the streams assessed in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin.

For more information on how nutrients vary over time in streams assessed across the Nation, contact:
Lori Sprague (lsprague@usgs.gov).

Aquifer Water Supplies Could be in Jeopardy

According to a study released by the US Geological Survey (USGS) the High Plain water aquifer, which supplies water to Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming could be in jeopardy if large amounts of water continue to be pumped out of it and farmers continue to use chemicals on the land above the underground reservoir.

The High Plains aquifer is mainly used for irrigation, however about 2 million people also rely on it for drinking water. The USGS has analyzed water samples taken between 1999 and 2004 from private wells, public supply wells, irrigation wells, and shallow monitoring wells for more than 180 chemicals and discovered that 6% of the drinking wells contained the contaminant nitrate. However, 85% of the 370 tested wells did meet federal drinking water standards.

USGS is concerned about the overall sustainability of the resource if prolonged irrigation pumping and the use of fertilizers on crops in the region continue, since both can lead to high contaminant concentrations.

The full USGS report can be viewed at: