Water Resources Development Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. President, today we are debating the water resources development bill that contains crucial provisions to improve and rebuild some of our locks, dams, ports, and flood control systems across the United States. It also authorizes valuable habitat restoration programs like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Those are all incredibly important issues and are worthy of our investment. Today, however, I wish to discuss an issue that is far too often overlooked by those of us in Congress: wastewater infrastructure.

Today when we talk about infrastructure, it translates into the critical structures we see every day--roads, bridges, locks, dams, airports. What is too often neglected in this conversation, however, is water infrastructure, which is just as critical to keeping our communities clean and livable and attracting investment and growth.

We all want clean water, particularly our local communities that are committed to working toward that goal. Unfortunately, too many of our cities and towns are in a situation where the Federal Government is demanding significant investments to prevent wastewater runoffs, while providing virtually no support to help meet those mandated goals.

I believe we should have high standards for our wastewater infrastructure, but those federally mandated standards should be achievable and met with a commitment to help make the necessary investments to protect the health and safety of our communities.

The truth is, unless we get serious about investing in all American infrastructure, including wastewater, we are hurting the very communities these regulations were initially intended to help.

This water resources bill includes some responses to the difficulties our communities are facing in preventing sewer overflows. We have established a technical assistance program for small and medium treatment waterworks, and our communities will now have more opportunities to develop integrated plans for dealing with multiple clean water requirements and have greater certainty when working with EPA to develop financially responsible investments in wastewater control systems. The bill also reauthorizes a grant program for cities that are addressing their combined sewer overflow, sanitary sewer overflows, and storm water discharge responsibilities.

The bill only authorizes, however, $250 million for wastewater grants all of next year. That is a sizeable investment but not nearly adequate to help communities respond to the financial challenges they are facing. To put that $250 million in perspective, local governments reported spending an average of approximately $320 million per day--per day--on water and wastewater services and infrastructure in 2013. That means this bill will authorize grants for an entire year at an amount that is only 75 percent of what local governments spend in 1 day.

In my hometown of South Bend, IN, the city may need to spend up to $1 billion to address its obligations to eliminate sewer overflows. The solution may include deep rock tunneling, with tunnels so deep they might as well build a subway system while they are down there and with a price tag so high, the required investments break down to $10,000 per resident--in a town with a per capita income of $19,000 per resident a year. It is not just one town, though; Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Evansville, Richmond, and others--these Hoosier communities are forced into consent decrees and are required to make significant investments with essentially no help from Congress, which made the rules in the first place.

I know we are operating in a time of budget constraints, but wastewater infrastructure investment is a problem. It is a problem Congress has failed to adequately address for far too long. That is why I have introduced an amendment that doubles the authorized funding for grants to local communities to respond to wastewater challenges. Even that is a modest investment, but we need to work together to find a way to do more.

I know that Chairman Inhofe--a former mayor of Tulsa--understands the challenges facing our cities, and local communities across the country are experiencing the same difficulties funding these improvements. Senator Boxer is such a tireless advocate on behalf of the communities in her home State, and I know she is interested in being as helpful as possible as well.

This bill makes improvements for our communities, and I appreciate that, but I am eagerly looking forward to finding ways to do more.

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