Federal Water Tap, December 23: EPA Reports on Water Affordability, Wetland Health

The Rundown

• EPA publishes a report on drinking water affordability and a status update on the health of the nation’s wetlands.
• Congress funds the federal government and includes $100 billion for disaster relief.
• White House report highlights federal opportunities to help communities who decide they want to move people away from climate risks or contaminated sites.
• President Biden signs a bill to allow “Good Samaritans” to clean up abandoned hardrock mines without legal liability for the pollutants.
• GAO assesses cloud seeding technology.
• Federal judge orders Washington state dairies to address nitrate pollution of groundwater.

And lastly, the White House updates the country’s climate goals under the Paris climate agreement.

“The Biden-Harris administration may be about to leave office, but we’re confident in America’s ability to rally around this new climate goal, because while the United States federal government under President Trump may put climate action on the back burner, the work to contain climate change is going to continue in the United States with commitment and passion and belief. That’s not wishful thinking; it’s happened before.” – John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, announcing the country’s updated greenhouse gas emissions target.

By the Numbers

61 to 66 Percent: Range of greenhouse gas emissions reductions, compared to 2005 levels, that the United States intends to achieve by 2035. The pledge counts as the country’s “nationally determined contribution” under the Paris climate agreement. The White House believes the lower end of the range can be achieved without additional effort from the Trump administration. A senior administration official described the pledge as “ambitious…but realistic.”

News Briefs

Congress’s Last Acts
The House and Senate avoided the hard decisions, passing a stop-gap bill to keep government operations funded through March 14, 2025, by maintaining current spending levels.

Avoiding a government shutdown was the main goal, but the bill contains other sweeteners, namely disaster relief and a one-year farm bill extension.

For disaster relief, some $100 billion will be distributed to various agencies to continue the federal response to drought, hurricane, and wildfire calamities from the last three years.

That amounts to $29 billion for FEMA’s disaster fund, and $20.8 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to compensate farmers who incurred losses in 2023 and 2024. That includes Texas farmers who were hurt by Mexico’s insufficient deliveries of water to the Rio Grande. Farmers will be eligible for an additional $10 billion in economic aid.

In other action, Congress passed the Water Resources Development Act, the bill that authorizes Army Corps water projects like dams, ports, and environmental restoration.

A program to help endangered and threatened fish in the Upper Colorado and San Juan river basins was reauthorized as part of a defense spending bill.

And President Biden signed a bill to quicken the pace of abandoned hardrock mine cleanups by allowing “Good Samaritans” to do so without incurring legal liability for the pollutants.

Nitrate Contamination of Groundwater in Washington State
A federal judge ruled in favor of the EPA in the agency’s legal battle with Washington state farmers over nitrate contamination of groundwater in the Yakima Valley.

The valley, a high-value agricultural region, is home to numerous dairies. Thomas Rice, a judge from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, granted the EPA’s preliminary injunction.

The injunction orders dairy operators to test household well water in the affected area and provide alternative water to those whose wells are polluted with nitrate above the federal standard; monitor groundwater for nitrate; and prevent manure lagoons from leaking pollutants.

Fourteen dairy operations or people who own property where manure is spread are named in the lawsuit.

Stored in lagoons and spread on fields, these animal wastes contain nitrogen that seeps into shallow groundwater that is used as a drinking water source by homes with private wells. Water with high concentrations of nitrate can be deadly to infants. Recent research has connected lower levels of nitrate with a risk of certain cancers and babies born prematurely.

The EPA first took action against some of these dairies in 2013, after the agency found nitrate levels in household wells in the Yakima Valley above the federal drinking water standard. The lawsuit alleges that the dairies failed to stop polluting and that nitrate “hot spots” persist near farm fields and manure lagoons.

In context: Regulators Battle Oregon and Washington Farmers over Limits to Farm Contamination

Studies and Reports

Water Affordability
Between 12.1 million and 19.2 million U.S. households do not have affordable water services, according to an EPA report. It is the agency’s first national assessment of drinking water and wastewater affordability.

Ordered by Congress, the report also estimated the amount of household water bills that are unaffordable. The national total for that is between $5.1 billion and $8.8 billion.

The report notes various factors that influence water service affordability – how rates are set, how utilities are funded, infrastructure needs and operations costs – but it points out that a national water affordability program funded by taxpayers is one tool for addressing the problem.

In context: Millions of Americans Are in Water Debt

Wetland Health
The EPA’s latest report card on the nation’s 81 million acres of wetlands showed mixed results for the biological, physical, and chemical health of these essential water bodies.

Most wetlands are in poor condition for the 13 indicators tracked in the report.

Some of those indicators are stable. There was little change over a five-year period for vegetation and non-native plants.

A few are improving. Wetlands rated in good condition for nitrogen increased by 8 percentage points.

But many are stuck in an unsatisfactory place. Detections of microcystin, a liver toxin produced by cyanobacteria, jumped. Some 82 percent of wetlands are in poor or fair condition for their physical integrity. This relates to damage from water diversions, dredging, pavement, and removal of plant cover. Such actions have been made easier following the Sackett decision, a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reduced federal wetlands protections.

The report card is based on measurements taken in 2021 and 2022.

Climate Migration
The White House published a report on federal opportunities to assist “community-driven relocation,” which happens when a community decides it wants to move people or assets away from areas threatened by climate risks – flooding, erosion, wildfire – or contaminated sites.

The report views the federal role as one that facilitates and funds, providing technical and planning support as well as financial assistance. It aims to be proactive, responding before situations reach the crisis stage.

Traditionally, the federal government has aided relocation through property buyouts. But agencies are also being more forward-thinking. Since November they have provided $135 million to 11 Indian tribes and Alaskan Native Villages to pursue relocation of infrastructure assets and people.

Make It Rain
The federal government has little involvement in cloud seeding, the act of inducing rain from clouds typically by injecting particles of silver iodide. Nonetheless, the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, assessed the technology and offered policy options.

Nine states use cloud seeding while 10 states have banned the practice or are considering a ban, the GAO found.

The report outlines ways for the federal government to become more involved. That could be through research and development, monitoring and oversight, permitting, and education.

On the Radar

Happy holidays! No Federal Water Tap next week, unless something especially newsworthy happens. See you in 2025!

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