Administration announces $5.8 billion in funding to clean up nation’s drinking water, upgrade infrastructure
Administration announces $5.8 billion in funding to clean up nation’s drinking water, upgrade infrastructure
The Biden administration announced $5.8 billion in funding Tuesday that will go out to every state and territory to help fix an ailing water infrastructure that continues to put millions of Americans’ health at risk.
The Biden administration on Tuesday announced $5.8 billion in funding that will go out to every state and territory to help fix an ailing water infrastructure that continues to put millions of Americans’ health at risk.
Michael Regan, administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, and Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Pittsburgh on Tuesday to promote the administration’s efforts to ensure a safer drinking water system and more reliable wastewater infrastructure. Projects underway in Pittsburgh – such as an effort to get rid of lead pipes – are among several across the country that are being funded through bipartisan 2021 legislation that designated $50 billion toward improving water infrastructure.
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It's possible that I've just lost all sense of scale when it comes to government spending, but is that a lot? It doesn't sound like a lot when you consider the breadth and scale of our diverse drinking water systems, but I could be wrong.
Here's the EPA's estimate:
Water utilities throughout the United States will need to spend $625 billion over the next 20 years to fix, maintain, and improve the country’s drinking water infrastructure, according to the results of a periodic assessment done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
That's $31.25 billion per year. This $5.8 billion is another injection into the $50 billion federal program for improving water infrastructure in 2021.
Thank you! I thought it sounded low, but it seems like it's like 11% boost to the annual budget for the year.
It's literally nothing. Not even a drop in the bucket
^This. The city I live needs at least $1bn to fix the janky water and sewer system due to lack of upkeep and the Frankenstein-esque way they just added new parts to the system Civil war era onward. Every time there's too much rain the sewer system backs up into the local river that people still swim in, yum.
Since COVID they been throwing those billions around like Trump throwing paper towels. It should definitely be going to infrastructure, and not just the war machine