In October, President Donald Trump signed the Water Infrastructure Funding Transfer Act into law. The new law promises to add flexibility to the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs to help finance projects that reduce lead in drinking water.
The Water Infrastructure Funding Transfer Act allows transfers from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) during a one-year period ending on October 4, 2020, in an amount up to 5% of the State’s cumulative CWSRF Federal grant dollars. The transferred funds may be used to provide financial support in the form of forgiveness of principal, negative interest loans or grants – or any combination. This authority is in addition to the existing transfer authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
“President Trump has made reducing lead exposure a top priority across his administration, and his signature of this new law is yet another example of the ways we are providing communities with additional tools to protect their drinking water,” said USEPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “This new law gives our state and local partners an important flexible financing option to fund projects that will reduce lead in drinking water and protect public health, especially the health of our nation’s children.”