Federal Water Tap, August 5: Senate Passes Water Infrastructure Bill Before Summer Break

The Rundown

• USDA offers farmers in western states cash for conserving water while also maintaining farm output.
• Defense Department continues to deal with PFAS contamination at military bases.
• Reclamation begins accepting applications for $450 million in drought resilience funding in the Upper Colorado River basin.
• GAO assesses EPA cybersecurity approach for water utilities and sourcing critical minerals from domestic mining waste.
• Senate passes water infrastructure bill before Congress goes on break until September 9.
• Commission that oversees U.S. and Mexico shared waters will present research on Rio Grande water flows.

And lastly, a Louisiana senator argues that federal flood insurance is too expensive.

“This is my poster: Make flood insurance affordable. FEMA’s new risk assessment, Risk Rating 2.0, has blindsided homeowners with unprecedented spikes in their insurance premiums, and it was never passed by Congress.” – Sen. John Cassidy (R-LA) speaking in an executive session of the Senate about the National Flood Insurance Program. Cassidy, who represents a state with high flood risks, wants a different approach than FEMA’s Risk Rating 2.0. That rating system went into effect in 2021 for new policyholders and in 2022 for those who already had coverage. The 2.0 system calculates flood risk by property and phases out subsidies, which is causing premiums to spike in high-risk areas like Louisiana.

By the Numbers

$400 Million: Funding announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for farm water conservation in the western states. The department identified 18 potential irrigation districts that will work with farmers to reduce water use and maintain crop output in exchange for taxpayer money.

$6.9 Million: Money that FEMA will reimburse Plaquemines Parish, in Louisiana, for costs related to using barges to store drinking water last year, NOLA.com reports. Slack flows on the Mississippi River allowed salt water from the Gulf of Mexico to move upstream. The parish draws drinking water from the river, which was temporarily spoiled.

News Briefs

Military PFAS Cleanup
The Defense Department continues to deal with the repercussions of PFAS contamination from its military bases.

In northern Michigan, the Air Force approved construction of a treatment system to clean polluted groundwater at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, outside the town of Oscoda. PFAS in the groundwater came from firefighting foams used for decades at the base.

The treatment system will extract contaminated groundwater, treat it to state standards with granular activated carbon, and reinject the treated water underground. The system will be positioned at a high-priority site to prevent more chemical contamination of Van Etten Lake, which is downhill from the base.

In context: Fear and Fury in Michigan Town Where Air Force Contaminated Water

Water Bills in Congress
Infrastructure, budget, abandoned mine cleanup. Let’s take them in order…

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2025 budget for the Bureau of Reclamation.

The bill would fund Reclamation’s principal water resources account at just over $1.8 billion, which is higher than the administration requested and a 6 percent increase above current funding. That amount does not include nearly $1.7 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which has already been approved.

In non-budget actions, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill that encourages cleanup of abandoned hardrock mines that pollute the country’s waters with toxic drainage. The bill permits “good Samaritans” to undertake cleanup efforts without also being liable for the wastes. Abandoned mines can be slow-drip problems, or they can be part of spectacular failures like the Gold King mine spill in southwestern Colorado, in 2015.

The Senate also approved a major piece of bipartisan legislation that authorizes Army Corps water projects. The Water Resources Development Act authorizes feasibility studies for 62 projects – from flood risk management in California, Michigan, and Vermont, to ecosystem restoration in Hawai’i and Kentucky. The House passed its own version of the bill two weeks ago.

Studies and Reports

EPA Water Sector Cybersecurity Approach Critiqued
A federal watchdog agency critiqued the EPA’s approach to cybersecurity for water utilities, arguing that the sector is vulnerable and the agency needs to understand the legal authority it requires to compel utilities to prepare for hackers. Numerous utilities have had their computer systems attacked in the last year by actors in Iran and China.

The Government Accountability Office made four recommendations to the agency: conduct a risk assessment, develop a national strategy, evaluate its legal authorities to mandate utility action, and review its cybersecurity assessment tool. Utility industry groups sued the agency after its most recent attempt to mandate cybersecurity assessments.

The agency agreed with the recommendations, and noted that a risk assessment will be ready by January 2025. A review of its legal authorities will be a part of that document.

Critical Minerals
The GAO also assessed the country’s ability to obtain critical minerals from “non-traditional” domestic sources.

Non-traditional sources include coal mining waste, hardrock mining waste, and brines from fossil fuel production or geothermal plants.

The report noted multiple benefits from tapping waste streams for minerals – less reliance on foreign sources, fewer new mines to be developed, economic and resource efficiency.

These ideas are already in practice. The report mentions a company that is recovering nickel and cobalt – important battery components – from a mining waste at a Superfund site in Missouri.

Oilfields could be another target. Texas is overflowing with “produced water,” the chemical-laden discharge that comes out of a well alongside oil and gas.

In context: Permian Oil Boom Uncorks Multibillion-Dollar Water Play

On the Radar

Colorado River Drought Funding
The Bureau of Reclamation began accepting applications for $450 million in drought resilience funding for the Upper Colorado River basin.

Funding is for tribes and public agencies for water conservation projects and environmental restoration projects that relate to drought response.

Applications will be accepted through October 14.

Rio Grande Water Flows
On August 6, the commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, which oversees waters shared by the U.S. and Mexico, will present agency research on basin hydrology at a public meeting.

The meeting will be held in person in Mercedes, Texas. But it will also be livestreamed. Details here.

In context: Can U.S. and Mexico Secure Water Supplies in Shrinking Rio Grande?

Congress on Summer Break
The House and Senate are on recess until September 9.

When they return, budget bills await – but most likely it will require a continuing resolution to keep the government operating until they complete the work.

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