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Congress enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) in February 2009 providing $787 billion to stimulate the economy, including $4 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF).  NACWA’s ARRA CWSRF report first provides an Executive Summary on the important trends on how the ARRA CWSRF funds were distributed.  In addition, the report seeks to characterize the impact of ARRA funding on NACWA’s ongoing advocacy efforts in both the legislative and regulatory arenas.  The report also provides key details with State-by-State summaries of ARRA allocation amounts, the number of project agreements awarded funding, the types of projects funded, the size of communities receiving funds, green project reserve statistics, and a breakdown of how States distributed additional subsidization dollars.

NACWA and its member agencies played a vital role in securing the CWSRF funding in the ARRA, as well as ensuring that key provisions, such as additional subsidization requirements and a “green reserve”, were included in the Act.  Although, the ARRA provided important funding during a time of economic distress, it had very limited impact in helping to meet the ever-growing funding needs that  the Nation’s public clean water agencies face.  Despite the ARRA investment, over $56 billion in identified drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects still await funding through the SRF programs.  While NACWA applauds Congress for this investment, we must continue our efforts to ensure federal funding for the clean water community is sustainable over time.  The limited nature of this funding also has underscored the importance of making the case on needed Clean Water Act affordability policy reforms at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the help of Congress, which is being pursued via NACWA’s Money Matters affordability campaign.

The timeliness of this report , however, is clear as Congress continues to gather information regarding the benefits of the stimulus package effort and potential additional stimulus and infrastructure spending legislation going forward.  For example, the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment is holding a hearing on July 15 to discuss Putting America Back to Work Through Clean Water Infrastructure Investment.  The Subcommittee will receive testimony from representatives from the business community, the labor community, the City of New York, Kansas City, Missouri, and D.C. Water on clean water infrastructure investment needs and how funding can spur job and economic growth in the U.S.

As NACWA members review the State-by-State information, please contact Thea Graybill at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions or additional information that you think may be helpful.