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Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) recently introduced the Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012 (S. 2094), a bill to authorize $1.8 billion over the course of five years for sewer overflow control grants and require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update its approach to making community affordability determinations with respect to increasingly costly Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements. The bill also contains provisions to ensure that EPA’s integrated planning approach provides as much benefit to communities as possible.  The complete bill can be found here  and a section-by-section summary is below.

The bill reflects many of the priorities set out in draft legislation developed by NACWA’s Money Matters Task Force over the past two years and demonstrates that the discussion on affordability and regulatory prioritization is now being heard and acted on in Congress. In fact, the affordability component of S. 2094 was developed with significant input from NACWA’s  affordability workgroup over several years and focused on ensuring that EPA revise its outdated 1997 Combined Sewer Overflows—Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development CSO affordability guidance, which this bill calls for.

NACWA sent Senator Brown a letter of support  for his bill, noting that this legislation would provide a vital step toward helping communities address water infrastructure and affordability challenges in a sound and viable manner.  While Senator Brown is looking for Republican co-sponsors to help propel his bill through the Senate, this task will likely be difficult because the $1.8 billion grant program contained in the bill has no funding offset.  Still, Senator Brown remains optimistic.

Next Steps on Integrated Planning and Money Matters Legislation
NACWA will continue to work to find bipartisan support for its Money Matters . . . Smarter Investment to Advance Clean Water™ legislation in both the House and the Senate.  Senator Brown’s bill demonstrates that this is an effort that resonates with both sides of the aisle and NACWA is working to have bipartisan legislation introduced first in the Senate. 

At the same time, NACWA is seeking to ensure that EPA’s integrated planning effort incorporates clean water agency concerns to the greatest degree possible.  EPA has now completed its series of workshops on the integrated planning effort and NACWA will be submitting comments by the February 29 deadline to help steer the development of the Agency’s integrated planning framework.  Members should send any thoughts they have or comments they are filing to Chris Hornback at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Section-by-Section Summary of the Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012
Section 1: Short Title
This bill shall be cited as S. 2094, the “Clean Water Affordability Act of 2012”

Section 2:  Sewer Overflow Control Grants
Grants would be available to States for use in mitigating combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) and priority would be given to projects in financially distressed communities.  Total funding authorized is $1.8 billion over five years.

Section 3: Integrated Permitting Process
This section would amend the CWA to allow for a comprehensive integrated planning approach under which CWA obligations may be implemented according to a schedule that accounts for the financial capability, cost, and use of innovative approaches to meet permittees’ obligations.  Permit terms may also be extended to 25 years if the permittee has an approved integrated plan.

Section 4: Combined Sewage Overflow Long-Term Control Plan
Requires the CSO control policy to be amended such that a clean water agency with an approved long-term control plan can modify the plan to incorporate green infrastructure and energy-efficiency technologies upon a showing that these can cost-efficiently help meet the terms of the clean water agency’s combined sewer overflow compliance obligations.

Section 5: Environmental Protection Agency Green Infrastructure Promotion
This section would encourage EPA and other agencies to promote the use of green infrastructure and coordinate the integration of green infrastructure into permitting programs, planning efforts, research, technical assistance, and funding guidance;  require EPA to establish a green infrastructure information-sharing service to provide the public with information regarding green infrastructure approaches for reducing water pollution and protecting water resources; and would establish a ‘Green Infrastructure Portfolio Standard’ with voluntary measurable goals, to increase the percentage of annual water managed by eligible entities that use green infrastructure.

Section 6:  Water Pollution Control Revolving Funds
This section alters the repayment period under the Clean Water State Revolving Fund by expanding the repayment period on the loan from 20 years to “the lesser of 30 years or the design life of the project to be financed with the proceeds of the loan.”

Section 7: Updating of Guidance
This section would require EPA to update its 1997 Combined Sewer Overflows—Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development document to ensure that the evaluations consider a broad range of considerations, including,  the financial capability of a community, the timing of implementation of water quality-related improvements, residential indicators, like rate increases, pollution trends and median household income.  It would also allow long-term control plans to be re-opened to address changes in the economic or financial status of a community.

Contact NACWA with any Thoughts or Questions on the Bill
NACWA believes this bill is an important place-marker as the Money Matters. . . Smarter Investment to Advance Clean Water™ campaign advances.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding this bill please contact Hannah Mellman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .