Federal Water Tap, August 26: First National Heat Strategy Focuses on Readiness

The Rundown

• Agencies publish the first national heat strategy to prepare communities for higher temperatures.
• Watchdog agency recommends changing the formula for allocating clean water infrastructure funds to states.
• EPA announces grants to address lead in school drinking water and prepare water providers for natural hazards.
• Interior Department releases guidelines to apply for $775 million to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells.
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory assesses considerations for adding floating solar panels to federal reservoirs.

And lastly, U.S. Geological Survey researchers contribute to a study that finds reservoir storage declining in the United States.

“We find that the maximum amount of water stored in reservoirs is decreasing across the U.S. We also find that periods of unusually low storage are becoming longer and more severe in western and central U.S. regions as well as for certain types of reservoirs. This suggests that reservoir storage may be less reliable and more vulnerable to extreme conditions and may be further impacted by changing climate and hydrology across the U.S. and by sediment building up behind reservoirs.” – Conclusion from a study of water storage changes in U.S. reservoirs.

By the Numbers

$775 Million: Funding that will be available to states for cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells. It is part of $4.7 billion in federal infrastructure law funding set aside for that purpose. To receive funds, states are required to track water contamination from the wells and halt any pollution coming from them. Funding applications are due December 13.

$25.5 Million: EPA funding distributed to water providers serving disadvantaged communities in order to prepare for a changing climate. The 16 grant recipients will undertake measures that will allow them to deliver water amid intensifying natural hazards. Projects include $5.3 million to Newtok, Alaska, to guard water infrastructure from flooding and erosion.

News Briefs

Heat Prep Is On
Federal agencies published the first-ever national heat strategy, a blueprint for research, planning, and outreach to prepare communities for deadly and disruptive heat.

The strategy has four focus areas: health, economy, infrastructure, and security.

The goals: educate people on the risks, study topics of uncertainty, fix problems, and use federal expertise and resources to support local efforts.

For water, that means research on how heat affects water quality, green infrastructure, and disease spread. It means understanding how heat intersects and amplifies other natural hazards such as hurricanes or flooding. It also means building cities that incorporate cooling infrastructure, shade, and water features.

In context: When the Heat Is On, Water Can Still Be Off in Great Lakes Cities

Lead in School Drinking Water
The EPA announced $26 million in grants to states, territories, and the District of Columbia to address lead in school drinking water.

Funding is intended for training, testing, and remediation actions. Spread across so many jurisdictions, the dollars are not huge – for most states, not more than $400,000. Green groups urged states to prioritize filtering water from school drinking fountains.

Studies and Reports

Clean Water Infrastructure Funding – How to Divide the Pie?
The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency, recommends that Congress change the formula the EPA uses to distribute funds for clean water infrastructure.

Congress appropriates money annually to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. EPA then hands out money to states based on their share of the national infrastructure need. That national assessment is a compilation of state-submitted numbers.

The GAO, after consulting experts, recommends expanding to a three-part formula: infrastructure need, population, and economic burden.

Sixty percent of a state’s score would come from the needs assessment; twenty percent from the state’s share of the national population; and twenty percent from the state’s share of households below 200 percent of the poverty line.

The changes would push more money to states in the West and South, at the expense of the Midwest and New England.

Congress would need to enact any changes. The GAO did not assess the tribal portion of the revolving fund allocation.

Floating Solar Panels on Federal Reservoirs
Building more solar power without disrupting land is one pathway to a carbon-free energy future.

Solar panels are already being installed over canals, a development that will generate electricity and reduce evaporation. What about floating the equipment on reservoirs?

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory published a report assessing the environmental and regulatory challenges for floating solar panels on federal reservoirs.

Only 30 floating solar projects exist on any waterbody in the country, the report says. None is federally managed. But the prospects are intriguing. A previous NREL study estimated that if all potential sites were maximized, they could have produced 10 percent of U.S. electricity in 2018.

The drawbacks NREL identified relate to how the panels might interfere with reservoir ecosystems and operations. There are also questions about permitting. Federal agencies said they need a blessing from Congress to develop such facilities on their own, though private entities do not.

On the Radar

Harmful Algal Blooms in Rivers
The Army Corps of Engineers is seeking university partners for research into disrupting and managing harmful algal blooms that form on rivers.

The Army Corps has $3 million to distribute. Applications are due August 30.

Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.

Brett Walton

Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States. He also writes the Federal Water Tap, Circle of Blue’s weekly digest of U.S. government water news. He is the winner of two Society of Environmental Journalists reporting awards, one of the top honors in American environmental journalism: first place for explanatory reporting for a series on septic system pollution in the United States(2016) and third place for beat reporting in a small market (2014). He received the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. Brett lives in Seattle, where he hikes the mountains and bakes pies. Contact Brett Walton