The 2021 infrastructure law directed $50 billion in funding to fix water pipes and treatment plants across the nation — the largest federal investment ever for drinking water and wastewater.
Now, with the law set to expire next year, Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Democrats are pushing to reauthorize the funding.
The committee heard Wednesday from a drinking water utility in Nebraska, a wastewater provider in Ohio and an advocacy group for state drinking water officials about how the law has helped communities address water challenges.
Signed by former President Joe Biden and supported by 19 Senate Republicans at the time of its passage, the law included billions in the form of grants and loans to help cities and towns remove toxic lead pipes and filter dangerous “forever chemicals” from drinking water.
