Federal Water Tap, November 4: White House Science Advisers Approve Groundwater Report

The Rundown

• White House science advisers approve a report to the president on national groundwater security.
• White House also hosts a meeting of business and government leaders on water security and climate resilience.
• EPA publishes annual reviews of the state revolving funds for water infrastructure.
• NOAA begins accepting applications for grants to remove in-stream barriers to fish migration.
• Continued drought in the center of the country allows salt water to push farther up the Mississippi River.
• EPA watchdog criticizes state management of water infrastructure funds for relying on paper receipts in a digital age.

And lastly, federal agencies begin working with rural water utilities on a cybersecurity program.

“America’s critical infrastructure is at constant risk of a cyberattack and rural America can’t be an afterthought. If a rural community lacks training and resources and isn’t prepared, a cyberattack on a rural water system would completely devastate the community.” — Andy Berke, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, in a written statement. His office will be working with the National Rural Water Association and the White House Office of the National Cyber Director to assess cybersecurity readiness for rural water utilities. The one-year study will leverage circuit riders, the roving technicians who assist small water systems with their expertise. Water utilities have become more frequent targets of cyberattacks in recent years, and smaller systems are not immune.

In context: Cheap Cybersecurity Defense Exist, But They’re Not Reaching Water Utilities Who Need Them

By the Numbers

River Mile 63.5: Estimated location of the tongue of salt water that is moving upstream along the bottom of the Mississippi River, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps built an underwater barrier at River Mile 64 to obstruct the salt water. A strong drought in the Ohio River basin, the Mississippi’s main water source, has weakened the flow of the country’s largest river. Typically contributing half of the Mississippi’s flow at Natchez, the Ohio is now providing less than 20 percent.

In context: Salt Water Again Moves Upstream in Weakened Mississippi River, Endangering Drinking Water

$82 Million: Funding announced by the Interior Department for 23 tribal drinking water projects. Two of the projects are ready for construction, while the rest will receive funds for planning and design.

News Briefs

Groundwater Report
The White House’s science advisers approved a report to President Biden on improving national groundwater security.

Acknowledging that the federal government plays a tiny role in groundwater regulation – primarily a state and local responsibility – the advisers instead focused on incentives for better management.

Their report offers six major recommendations. Among them: an interagency working group for data collection and hydrologic modeling, a research and development agenda for groundwater quality and quantity, education and outreach, and workforce development.

The report also suggests a competitive grant program to spur innovation, and incorporating economic values of groundwater into a new federal system of natural capital accounting.

The report will now undergo final edits and be delivered to the president “in several weeks,” according to Arati Prabhakar, director of the Office of Science Technology and Policy and co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which produced the report.

The council’s work on the report was questioned by six House Republicans, who sent a letter to Prabhakar on October 1 asking for more details about its costs and preparation.

White House Water Meeting
The Biden administration also held a meeting on October 31 with business, government, and utility leaders to discuss innovation for water security and climate resilience.

“Yesterday’s roundtable powerfully emphasized the need to prioritize water security as a core part of our climate strategy — not as an afterthought, but as a foundation for resilience and adaptation,” Aaron Tartakovsky wrote on X. Tartakovsky, co-founder and CEO of Epic Cleantec, attended the meeting.

Studies and Reports

Paper Receipts in a Digital Age
The EPA’s internal watchdog identified problems with state management of the revolving funds for water infrastructure.

The problem, according to the Office of the Inspector General, is that some states are collecting data on grants and contractors in a way that prevents easy analysis. Six states, for instance, collect documents only on paper.

The report is part of the OIG’s mission to reduce fraud and waste in the federal government.

State Revolving Fund Annual Review
The EPA published the 2023 annual review for the two state revolving funds, the main source of federal funding for water infrastructure.

The drinking water and clean water reports tally the federal financial contribution in terms of dollars, subsidies to disadvantaged communities, and loan rates.

On the Radar

Fish Passage Funding
NOAA announced two grant opportunities to remove in-stream barriers – like dams – that impede the movement of migratory fish.

Up to $75 million is available broadly and an additional $20 million specifically for tribes.

The multi-year funding comes through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Applications are due in February.

Pulling Carbon from the Air
The Energy Department will begin an environmental impact statement for Project Cypress, two facilities proposed for western Louisiana that will pull carbon out of the air and store it deep underground. The facilities will test competing direct air capture technologies from the companies Climeworks and Heirloom.

Construction could damage wetlands and floodplains, which will be evaluated in the study. A draft is scheduled for June 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