Texas residents still lack water as EPA grant expires, unspent

SANTA ROSA, Texas – A recent EPA audit revealed that a $4 million grant to the city of Santa Rosa was never spent, according to a report from the Associated Press. The grant, intended to provide low-income neighborhoods called colonias with water and sewage infrastructure, expired in 2002.

Investigators blame lax oversight from the EPA, disputes at the local level, as well as insufficient staff. Over the course of the past decade, $78 million of the $300 million Congress has allocated to improve living standards in Texas’ colonias have not been used.

Recognizing that almost half a million people live in the colonias, the EPA is working to help Santa Rosa implement the remaining funds and has set a 2010 deadline.

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Source: Associated Press