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The House of Representatives took an important step forward late yesterday in advancing much needed clean water policy reforms, passing H.R. 5303, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016, by a large bipartisan vote of 399-25. The Senate passed its WRDA package on September 15th on a vote of 95-3, which means that Congress can now work to reconcile the different proposals in time to pass a final WRDA bill during its post-election Lame Duck session in December and send it to President Obama for his signature. 

The passage of WRDA in both chambers with such overwhelming votes demonstrates once again that water is a truly bipartisan issue and one that can attract significant attention from Congress. While the House bill does not include many of the Clean Water Act reforms and investments found in the Senate bill that are most important to NACWA members, the impressive House vote greatly strengthens the prospects for a final WRDA bill being negotiated between the two chambers and completed this year. How the process to reconcile the two bills will play out is still unclear, and it is possible that the Clean Water Act revisions from the Senate version will not be included in a final package. But NACWA will be working hard over the coming weeks to encourage lawmakers to include as many of the elements from the Senate bill as possible.

Yesterday’s House vote on WRDA came after weeks of wrangling by Congressional leaders over the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan and negotiations over a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, which starts October 1st. The two legislative priorities became intertwined because while the Senate WRDA bill contained funding for Flint and other communities facing similar issues, the House WRDA bill did not – and the initial CR also did not address the Flint situation.

Demanding a clear path forward on funding for Flint, Democrats blocked the CR from advancing early in the week. With the clock ticking, leadership from both parties eventually agreed to allow a vote on an amendment to the House WRDA bill authorizing $170 million for infrastructure improvements to communities like as Flint. The amendment was adopted on a vote of 284-141, and with Flint money addressed in the WRDA package, Congress was able to move quickly to pass a CR to keep the federal government funded through early December.

The Flint aid’s inclusion in WRDA rather than the CR gives WRDA even greater prominence as a must-pass piece of legislation this calendar year. Given this reality, a key advocacy priority for the municipal clean water community will be working to maintain the many provisions in the Senate WRDA bill that support clean water funding and address affordability challenges. Please keep an eye out in the coming days for a more detailed analysis from NACWA of key content in both the final House and Senate bills, how WRDA will directly impact and benefit your utility, and information on important action NACWA will need you to take with your Congressional delegation to urge support of these critical items. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions.

We are one step closer to significant legislative changes to the Clean Water Act that will directly benefit clean water utilities – let’s keep up the fight!