California granted $440m for water infra

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the state of California $440 million of funding in order to improve its aging water and wastewater infrastructure.

The award is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed by President Obama in February.

Acting regional administrator for the EPA in the Pacific Southwest Laura Yoshii said of the funding: “This remarkable opportunity to provide much-needed support for sustainable water and energy-efficient drinking water and wastewater systems throughout the US is unprecedented. This funding will allow California to identify its highest infrastructure priorities, protect human health and surface water quality, address climate change, and create critical green jobs as a foundation for a sustainable future.”

California’s State Water Resources Control Board’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which develops the state’s non-drinking water infrastructure, will receive $280 million of the funding, with the remainder going towards the Department of Public Health’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which finances potable water infrastructure improvements in the state.

Earlier this month the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Water Infrastructure Financing Act, which would reauthorise the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The fund, which has not been reauthorised since 1996, would provide funding $14.7 billion of funding for nationwide drinking water infrastructure and $20 billion for non-drinking water over the next five years.