By ALEC MENA for InsideSources.com

Contaminated drinking water can cause gastrointestinal diseases and neurological disorders. Prolonged exposure to contaminants such as lead can lead to chronic diseases and developmental disorders, especially in children. Access to clean and safe drinking water is vital to public health.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) have been two sources of federal funding for water infrastructure since 1987 and 1996, respectively.

The CWSRF has funded the construction and upgrade of wastewater treatment plants, developed stormwater management systems, and addressed diffuse pollution, which comes from multiple sources rather than a single polluter. The DWSRF has funded the replacement and rehabilitation of aging water infrastructure, including pipelines, and provided assistance in replacing utility lines to eliminate lead contamination in drinking water.

On July 12, Senator Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., described the two Revolving Fund programs as “critical to expanding access to clean water, modernizing aging water infrastructure, and protecting our public health.” However, the reintroduction of special funds, euphemistically called “community projects funding,” into Congress’s budget appropriations process in 2021 has resulted in funding being diverted from those programs.

The revolving funds are funded through annual appropriations. EPA distributes these funds, $2.76 billion annually in fiscal years 2023 and 2024, to each state as “capitalization grants” according to a statutory formula. However, before the budget committees allocate the grants, special funds are set aside for congressional districts and states, reducing the funds available for formula-based funding.

This process depends on the political influence of legislators rather than the need for water infrastructure projects in a particular state. Because earmarked funds are deducted from the amount allocated to EPA, states that do not receive earmarked funds can suffer significant funding losses.

A July 9 letter from 16 Senators and Representatives to the Chairman and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and Subcommittees stated: “The annual appropriations legislation cut funding for the state SRFs by more than $3.7 billion in fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024 to fund the two programs.”

In fiscal years 2022 and 2023, 56 percent of total revolving fund funding was diverted to earmarked projects. According to the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, in fiscal year 2023, “earmarks will result in a direct net loss of $328 million for 25 states… (which) will lose water funds that would have otherwise funded critical infrastructure projects.”

The July 9 letter said: “If funding shortfalls and diversions continue, a critical lifeline of our federal water infrastructure funding will dry up – at a time when infrastructure, design and planning costs are skyrocketing.”

Those concerns were shared by state water agencies. In 2022, Keith McLaughlin, executive director of the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority, said he had “almost run out of loan money” to finance projects because the state had lost more funding to outside grants than Colorado’s congressional delegation had been able to recoup through its own grants.

Puerto Rico received $26.6 million less than expected under the allocation formula in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, delaying the reconstruction of public infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Fiona in 2022. Between fiscal years 2022 and 2023, 38 states and territories lost $660 million in federal water assistance to unrelated earmarks.

The earmarks also put water infrastructure funding programs at risk by reallocating money from the revolving funds’ interest-bearing loans, which are often repaid and reissued, into grants that cannot be repaid. According to the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, the “cost of these earmarks over 10 years for all states is an additional $458 million.”

These funds allow members of Congress to select projects that do not meet the recommendations of state water agencies. The funds go disproportionately to members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and to congressional leadership, and also divert resources from needier communities to wealthier ones.

Since 1991, Citizens Against Government Waste has been promoting Congress Pig BookCAGW’s earmark database documents 132,434 earmarks valued at $460.3 billion. Congress Pig Book 2024 The data show that $54,207,765 from the revolving funds is earmarked for projects hand-picked by members of Congress, diverting money from higher priority infrastructure projects identified by state water agencies. In addition, $355,162,860 is earmarked for other politically favored water projects not related to the revolving funds.

The ability to divert funds through special appropriations benefits members of Congress and comes at the expense of drinking water infrastructure projects that Americans depend on. This is another reason why special appropriations have been called “the most corrupt, costly and unfair practice in the history of Congress” by CAGW President Tom Schatz and Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and must be abolished.

Alec Mena is a federal government affairs staff writer at Citizens Against Government Waste. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.