Members Urged to Support Federal Funding for Critical Water Infrastructure

ACWA is encouraging member agencies to contact their elected officials in the U.S. Congress and urge them to preserve funding for critical water infrastructure programs. On May 30, the Trump Administration released details regarding its fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, which would cut funding that is essential to ACWA member agencies’ ability to provide safe, reliable and affordable water. The proposal serves as a recommendation to the U.S. Congress for federal agency funding.

What’s at Stake

Proposed funding cuts target the Environmental Protection Agency’s State Revolving Funds (SRFs) with a $2.4 billion reduction and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) with a $64 million cut. Funding reductions are also proposed for the Bureau of Reclamation. Particularly hard-hit Bureau programs include the Aging Infrastructure Program, WaterSmart Program (including Title XVI Water Recycling) and Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act water storage funding. All of these Bureau programs were zeroed out in the president’s request.

These federal investments are essential to strengthening public health, supporting economic growth, and ensuring that water remains accessible and affordable.

Take Action Now

Contact your federal representatives. Express your agency’s concern with the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and urge your elected officials in the U.S. Congress to act using ACWA’s customizable template letter. Please forward a copy of your letter to outreach@acwa.com.

You can find your agency’s representative in Congress on the U.S. House of Representatives’ website. Contact information for California’s U.S. senators is also online.

Questions

For questions about funding cuts in the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, please contact ACWA Federal Relations Representative Caleb Raspler.

Members Urged to Support Federal Legislation Exempting Water Systems from PFAS Liability

ACWA is encouraging member agencies to contact their elected officials in the U.S. House of Representatives and urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 1267, the Water Systems PFAS Liability Protection Act.

If enacted into law, the bill would exempt water systems from liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability (CERCLA) Act, also known as the Superfund Law. This narrowly tailored exemption would align with the historical objective of the CERCLA statute to hold polluters responsible, not the passive receivers.

Take Action Now

Contact your federal representatives. Share your agency’s support for this bill and urge your elected official to co-sponsor H.R. 1267 using this customizable template letter. You can find your agency’s representative in Congress on the U.S. House of Representatives’ website.

Background

Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) — two PFAS chemicals — as hazardous substances under CERCLA. Efforts to combat these contaminants are taking place on both the federal and state level, with California on the frontline.

At the time, EPA released an enforcement discretion memo pledging to focus federal enforcement efforts on the entities responsible for releasing PFAS into the environment. But drinking water and wastewater systems — and member agency ratepayers — could still face significant financial liability unless Congress acts.

CERCLA does not distinguish between passive receivers of a hazardous substance and the polluting entity that introduced it into the environment. Any entity that handles, manages, or disposes of PFAS could be held partially or fully liable for cleaning it up. If a location where a water system treated, stored, or disposed of PFAS residuals becomes a Superfund cleanup site, the water system could be identified as a potentially responsible party.

ACWA strongly supports the “polluters pay” principle laid out in the CERCLA Act, which holds entities financially liable for the cleanup of contaminated sites they have created rather than compliant water suppliers and ratepayers. Potential liability for public and wastewater agencies from a CERCLA designation for certain PFAS contaminants and the associated costs are a serious concern for ACWA member agencies that did not cause the contamination.

Questions

For questions about H.R. 1267, please contact ACWA Federal Relations Representative Libby Spekhardt.

EPA Announces National Regulation for PFAS

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new national maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 4.0 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA and PFOS as individual contaminants and a standard of 10 ppt for three other chemicals — PFNA, PFHxs, and HFPO-DA (commonly referred to as GenXChemicals). In addition, EPA will utilize a hazard index to regulate mixtures of PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DC and PFBS.

This enforceable rule requires public water systems to monitor for these PFAS, notify the public of the levels of these PFAS and reduce the levels of these PFAS in drinking water if they exceed the MCL. Utilities will have five years to come into compliance with the rule.

ACWA previously supported EPA’s efforts to address PFAS contamination and protect public health through setting drinking water standards that are based on sound science and robust analysis. Unfortunately, the MCL is not feasible because the anticipated costs of complying are not adequately captured under EPA’s cost assessment.

Background

The EPA regulation of PFAS through the Safe Drinking Water Act began in 2009. The draft PFAS regulation was published in 2023 with a 60-day comment period and ACWA submitted comments at that time. ACWA’s comments call for less focus on a regulatory approach and a greater focus on eliminating PFAS in consumer products, source control, and destruction technology as well as holding PFAS polluters accountable. These steps are necessary to achieve progress in mitigating PFAS risks and exposure.

ACWA encouraged EPA to take more proactive measures to identify sources of PFAS and limit their discharges, as prevention is more cost-effective than attempting to clean up pollution. ACWA also stressed the importance of maintaining the “polluter pays” principle under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Under this principle the entities responsible for PFAS pollution are held accountable for costs associated with cleanup, not water ratepayers.

California Regulation

In a separate effort, the California Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessment on April 5 adopted and published public health goals of 0.007 ppt for PFOA and 1.0 ppt for PFOS. A public health goal is a drinking water objective that does not pose a significant risk to health and is not an enforceable standard. The State Water Resources Control Board also listed developing a PFAS MCL as a 2024 Drinking Water Priority.

Questions

For questions regarding the new MCL, please contact ACWA Director of Federal Relations Ian Lyle at (202) 434-4765.

ACWA Members Urged to Contact Congressional Representatives Today to Extend NPDES Permit Term Lengths

ACWA is urging member agencies to contact their representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives in time for tomorrow’s floor vote to help build support for the bipartisan Garamendi-Graves amendment to H.R. 7023 (Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act).

The Garamendi-Graves amendment would give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the discretion to extend National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit terms from five years to 10 years. NPDES permits are necessary for many water infrastructure projects, including water recycling projects.

The Garamendi-Graves amendment to H.R.7023 is expected to come up for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, March 21. ACWA members are encouraged to act now to build support for passage of the amendment.

The Garamendi-Graves amendment is based on H.R. 1181 legislation ACWA and many national water organizations have supported.

Take Action Now

Contact your member of the U.S. House of Representatives by email or phone and ask them to support the Garamendi-Graves amendment. You can identify your representative online.

Please forward a copy of your letter to ACWA Director of Federal Relations Ian Lyle at ianl@acwa.com and outreach@acwa.com.

Below are talking points to assist in your conversations.

• Please support the bipartisan Garamendi-Graves amendment to H.R.7023.
• The amendment gives the EPA the discretion to extend NPDES permit terms from 5 years to 10 years. Allowing terms of up to 10 years makes better use of resources without hindering EPA’s authority to enforce water quality standards.
• NPDES permits are necessary for many critical water infrastructure projects, including most water recycling projects.
• Increasing NPDES permit terms from 5 to 10 years ensures federal permitting requirements accurately reflect the timeframe to construct a public water project while upholding Clean Water Act protections.
• The Garamendi-Graves amendment makes better use of limited resources and allows regulatory staff to focus on the highest priority water quality issues.

Questions

For questions about the Garamendi-Graves amendment or NPDES permitting issues, please contact ACWA Director of Federal Relations Ian Lyle at (202) 434-4765.

Members Urged to Send Letters to Senate, EPW Leadership on PFAS CERCLA Liability Protections

ACWA is urging member agencies to send letters to U.S. Senate leadership and the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee leadership to build support for PFAS liability protections for water and wastewater agencies under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

CERCLA is designed to remediate contaminated sites and hold parties that caused the contamination financially responsible for cleanup through its “polluter pays” model. ACWA strongly supports the “polluter pays” principle. However, under current federal efforts our members and their ratepayers will be facing a “community pays” outcome that unfairly shifts the clean-up and liability costs onto ACWA members and the public they serve.

Without an explicit exemption from financial liability under CERCLA, water systems could be held financially liable for the cleanup of Superfund sites contaminated with PFAS, despite having never manufactured, used, or benefited from PFAS.

ACWA staff will be submitting a letter and advocating that California Senators Laphonza Butler and Alex Padilla uphold CERCLA’s “polluter pays” principle and protect water systems and the ratepayers they serve by supporting a tailored legislative exemption from PFAS liability.

Take Action Now

 ACWA is urging member agencies to take action now as opponents to a CERCLA exemption for water systems have been very active in their contacts with Senate leadership and members. Additionally, we anticipate the EPW Committee will hold a hearing on PFAS this month. Senators need letters in-hand from affected water systems to support this exemption.

1. Email a letter to the appropriate Senate contacts below calling on them to support a tailored, legislative CERCLA exemption from liability for PFAS-related cleanups for water and wastewater agencies. A sample letter is available for your use.

2. Send an electronic copy of the letter to ACWA. Please send electronic copies of your letter to outreach@acwa.com and ACWA Director of Federal Relations Ian Lyle.

Questions

For questions about PFAS related legislation, please contact ACWA Director of Federal Relations Ian Lyle at (202) 434-4765.