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Pennsylvania State Senate
12/01/2024 12:24 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20210&cosponId=35687
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: May 20, 2021 01:55 PM
From: Senator Lindsey M. Williams and Sen. Maria Collett, Sen. Katie J. Muth
To: All Senate members
Subject: Water, Sewer and Stormwater Infrastructure
 
In the near future we plan on introducing legislation to allocate $350 million of the Commonwealth’s allocation from the State Fiscal Relief Fund authorized through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) for clean water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure projects.  Under ARP, states are specifically authorized to use funds received from the State Fiscal Relief Fund for water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure.   
 

Utilizing the ARP funds for water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure helps begin to address the Commonwealth’s significant water and sewer backlog that lack necessary funding. As part of recent budgets, we have recapitalized the small water and sewer projects program at the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA), and every year the demand for those limited dollars is greatly exceeded. 
 

We must ensure all the Commonwealth’s citizens have access to clean and safe drinking water.  Additionally, it is vital that we address the increasing challenges stormwater issues cause our communities.  Stormwater runoff causes flooded homes and roadways, property erosion, and collapsing infrastructure and costs homeowners and communities millions.  Finally, investing these funds in our water and sewer infrastructure is estimated to create approximately 6,600 jobs.  
 

Under our plan, the $350 million in grant funding would be awarded through PENNVEST and the CFA.  Eligible applicants would be required to commit local funds to the project with the Commonwealth matching those funds at an approximate rate of 3.5-to-1.  Local governments will receive over $6.1 billion for similar projects through the ARP’s Local Fiscal Relief Fund.  With the local match, the total investment in water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure will be $450 million.  
   

Eligible projects would align with Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water Revolving Fund (DWRF) as outlined in the guidance provided from the U.S. Treasury.  These programs fund eligible costs associated with the acquisition, construction, improvement, expansion, extension, repair, rehabilitation or security measures of all or part of any facility or system, whether publicly or privately owned: 

  • For the collection, treatment or disposal of wastewater, including industrial waste; 
  • For the supply, treatment, storage or distribution of drinking water; and, 
  • For the control of pollution associated with storm water runoff or any other innovative stormwater management techniques developed to comply with the Clean Streams Law or identified in the county-prepared watershed plans or as identified in Pennsylvania’s Nonpoint Source Management Program update. 

  I hope you will join us in sponsoring this legislation. 


Introduced as SB916