EPA Announces $6.5 Billion for Drinking Water Infrastructure Upgrades

Earlier this week, EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced $6.5 billion through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) to help improve water infrastructure in the face of challenges like climate change, cyber threats, and more. A boost from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law helped EPA to increase its investments in this program.

EPA’s announcement coincided with the publication of its FY 2023 state-by-state allotments for the DWSRF, which was published on Monday. The allotments are based on the results of EPA’s 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment (DWINSA). The survey, which is required by the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act, assesses the nation’s public water systems’ infrastructure needs every four years and the findings are used to allocate DWSRF grants to states. Each state receives an allocation percentage that is based directly on its proportional share of the total need for all 50 States and Puerto Rico. The percentage made available to any individual state ranges from 1 to almost 11 percent, with each state guaranteed a minimum of 1 percent of the total amount available to states. Due to any individual state’s share of the total state need, some states will see increases or decreases in the percentage of funding they receive. Read more at EPA.