Opening Statement
Water Infrastructure
Bills
Senator James
Jeffords
Feb. 26, 2002
The committee will come to order. Our hearing today will be a legislative
hearing to examine 5 pieces of legislation involving water infrastructure. Of focus will be S. 1961, the Water
Investment Act of 2002. Along with
Senators Graham, Crapo, and Smith, I co-sponsored this legislation to provide
additional resources to States, Tribes, and localities to meet water
infrastructure needs. Simultaneously, it seeks to move the state of the art in
water program management forward by increasing the flexibility offered to
States in administering their water programs, ensuring that "next
generation" of water quality issues receive the appropriate focus, and
institutionalizing financial management capacity into our Nation ´s water systems.
This legislation is critical to our
Nation ´s future. We tend to take clean water in our faucets and
well-functioning, hidden sewage treatment systems for granted in this country.
However, without vigilance, these luxuries can quickly disappear. The Water
Investment Act of 2002 will help our communities be vigilant.
This legislation authorizes funding
of over $20 billion over 5 years nationwide for clean water and $15 billion
over 5 years nationwide for safe drinking water projects.
There is significant new flexibility
attached to these funds.
Many of the provisions already
authorized in the Safe Drinking Water Act which allow an extension of loan
terms and more favorable loan terms (including principal forgiveness) for
disadvantaged communities. In States such as my home State of Vermont, these
types of provisions are critical as small communities struggle to meet water
quality needs. There is financial accountability built into the Water
Investment Act of 2002. We have included provisions for both the Clean Water
Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act that are designed to help water utilities
better manage their capital investments using asset management plans, rate
structures that account for capital replacement costs, and other financial management
techniques. We encourage utilities to seek innovative solutions by asking them
to review options for consolidation, public-private partnerships, and
low-impact technologies before proceeding with a project.
Whenever one mentions
"consolidation", concerns are often raised about inadvertently
providing incentives for excessive or uncontrolled growth. This legislation
recognizes that concern and includes a provision that specifically requires
States to ensure that water projects are coordinated with local land use plans,
regional transportation improvement and long-range transportation plans, and
state, regional and municipal watershed plans. As a package, this legislation
will help ensure that utilities seek the most efficient organizational
structure to meet their water quality needs.
I am also very pleased that the bill
includes provisions ensuring that "next generation" of water quality
issues receives the appropriate focus. As I worked on this legislation, I
became aware that there are opportunities to use low-impact technologies to solve
water quality issues that may or may not be considered by states and localities
as they seek to solve water quality issues. In response, our bill includes
several incentives for use of non-structural technologies. We specifically
state in the statute that these approaches are eligible to receive funding
under the Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund and require that recipients of
funds consider the use of low-impact technologies. In addition, we authorize a
demonstration program at $20 million per year over 5 years to promote
innovations in technology and alternative approaches to water quality
management and water supply. This program requires that a portion of the
projects use low-impact development technologies.
The use of nontraditional
technologies is the focus in the Water Investment Act to ensure that nonpoint
source pollution receives appropriate emphasis under the Clean Water Act. The
modifications this bill makes to the priority listing requirements in the Clean
Water Act ensure that nonpoint source projects will be a part of the equation
when funding decisions are made at the State level.
The bill also addresses eligibility
issues. It clarifies that planning, design, and associated preconstruction costs
are eligible for funds under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act
State Revolving Funds as stand-alone items. This ensures that small communities
who may not have the resources available to get a project ready to go on their
own can receive assistance. Small communities will also benefit from a
provision in the bill that allows privately-owned wastewater facilities to
access the Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund Already permitted under the
Safe Drinking Water Act, this will allow small, privately-owned wastewater
systems such as those located in trailer parks, to obtain much-needed financial
assistance.
To ensure that both public and private small
systems can actually develop the projects to solve problems, our legislation
provides three main types of technical assistance for small communities. It
authorizes $7 million per year over 5 years for technical assistance to small
systems serving less than 3300 people located in a rural area. It reauthorizes the
Small Public Water Systems Technology Assistance Centers for an additional $5
million per year over 5 years. Finally, it reauthorizes the Environmental
Finance Centers for $1.5 million per year over 5 years.
We have heard from many organizations that
public participation in the execution of the state revolving loan funds needs
to be increased. I hope that every individual interested in how water quality
projects are selected and prioritized in their States takes full advantage of
existing opportunties for public participation. Our legislation takes action to
ensure that there is ample opportunity for public comment when developing
project priority lists and intended use plans.
I want to thank Senator Graham for
his leadership on this legislation and Senators Crapo and Smith for their
dedication to introducing a bi-partisan package today and their willingness to
find a compromise when we needed one.
I recognize that this issue is of
great importance to every Senator, and I look forward to working with each of
you to pass this important legislation that is so important to our Nation ´s
water quality and drinking water safety.