At least nine states have not been conducting regular audits of their state revolving funds, putting billions of federal dollars for water projects at greater risk of fraud, according to a new investigation.
The state revolving funds are a major funding source for clean water initiatives, including efforts to free drinking water of lead and chemicals and to reduce the sewage in rivers and streams. Managed by state officials with oversight by EPA, the funds received a major boost from the infrastructure law in 2021.
But not all states have been sending required financial audits to EPA’s Office of Inspector General for more than a decade, the independent EPA watchdog revealed in a report this week. Still more states have not been completing the audits in the manner required by law, OIG said.
“The need for the OIG to review these SRF audits is particularly important in light of the approximately $43.4 billion that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act appropriates to the SRFs,” Inspector General Sean O’Donnell wrote in his report.
