From Congress to disadvantaged communities: an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to Alabama through state revolving funds
Millions of residents in high-income countries lack access to safely managed drinking water and wastewater services at home. Financing improvements to water-related infrastructure access is primarily dependent upon utility revenue or assistance from government agencies and non-governmental organizat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adeba1 |
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| author | Victoria Miller Lacey Christian Mark A Elliott Cindy Lowry Jillian Maxcy-Brown |
| author_facet | Victoria Miller Lacey Christian Mark A Elliott Cindy Lowry Jillian Maxcy-Brown |
| author_sort | Victoria Miller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Millions of residents in high-income countries lack access to safely managed drinking water and wastewater services at home. Financing improvements to water-related infrastructure access is primarily dependent upon utility revenue or assistance from government agencies and non-governmental organizations. In the United States (US), the State Revolving Fund (SRF) is the single largest government program for communities to obtain funding to improve their water-related infrastructure challenges. The program is funded annually by the US Congress through the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and was bolstered by an influx of funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($50 billion) and the American Rescue Plan Act ($350 billion). For the Federal fiscal year 2024, the US Congress allocated and the USEPA distributed $11.5 billion to the SRF programs among States, Territories, Tribes and SRF initiatives at USEPA. However, accessing the SRF program is complicated and can prove insurmountable for the millions of residents living in rural, small, or otherwise disadvantaged communities (DACs) without reliable and affordable access to clean piped drinking water and functioning wastewater treatment systems. This study analyzed the $3.3 billion in funding requests to Alabama’s SRF to reveal that 69.6% of drinking water utilities and 70.3% of wastewater utilities have sought SRF funding for infrastructure upgrades since 2022. In Alabama, DACs comprise 55.4% of census tracts (2.2 million people) and 84.7% of SRF applications could potentially be serving DACs, yet only 24.6% of the funds awarded through recent Intended Use Plans (IUPs) are intended for DACs. This novel analysis seeks to provide a greater understanding of key infrastructure funding mechanisms, analyze how Federal funds are being delivered to communities and encourage decision-makers to shift funding programs to better reach DACs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-245a4e347e9c469694be8bbc6c6ad80a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-245a4e347e9c469694be8bbc6c6ad80a2025-08-20T03:58:36ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262025-01-0120909400810.1088/1748-9326/adeba1From Congress to disadvantaged communities: an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to Alabama through state revolving fundsVictoria Miller0https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0667-8629Lacey Christian1https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6706-348XMark A Elliott2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7835-0612Cindy Lowry3Jillian Maxcy-Brown4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0918-1640Alabama Rivers Alliance , Birmingham, AL, United States of America; Department of Geosciences, Auburn University , Auburn, AL, United States of AmericaUSA Department of Civil, Coastal, and Environmental Engineering, University of South Alabama , Mobile, AL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa, AL, United States of AmericaAlabama Rivers Alliance , Birmingham, AL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Auburn University , Auburn, AL, United States of AmericaMillions of residents in high-income countries lack access to safely managed drinking water and wastewater services at home. Financing improvements to water-related infrastructure access is primarily dependent upon utility revenue or assistance from government agencies and non-governmental organizations. In the United States (US), the State Revolving Fund (SRF) is the single largest government program for communities to obtain funding to improve their water-related infrastructure challenges. The program is funded annually by the US Congress through the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and was bolstered by an influx of funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($50 billion) and the American Rescue Plan Act ($350 billion). For the Federal fiscal year 2024, the US Congress allocated and the USEPA distributed $11.5 billion to the SRF programs among States, Territories, Tribes and SRF initiatives at USEPA. However, accessing the SRF program is complicated and can prove insurmountable for the millions of residents living in rural, small, or otherwise disadvantaged communities (DACs) without reliable and affordable access to clean piped drinking water and functioning wastewater treatment systems. This study analyzed the $3.3 billion in funding requests to Alabama’s SRF to reveal that 69.6% of drinking water utilities and 70.3% of wastewater utilities have sought SRF funding for infrastructure upgrades since 2022. In Alabama, DACs comprise 55.4% of census tracts (2.2 million people) and 84.7% of SRF applications could potentially be serving DACs, yet only 24.6% of the funds awarded through recent Intended Use Plans (IUPs) are intended for DACs. This novel analysis seeks to provide a greater understanding of key infrastructure funding mechanisms, analyze how Federal funds are being delivered to communities and encourage decision-makers to shift funding programs to better reach DACs.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adeba1water infrastructure investmentsfunding policiesdrinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects |
| spellingShingle | Victoria Miller Lacey Christian Mark A Elliott Cindy Lowry Jillian Maxcy-Brown From Congress to disadvantaged communities: an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to Alabama through state revolving funds Environmental Research Letters water infrastructure investments funding policies drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects |
| title | From Congress to disadvantaged communities: an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to Alabama through state revolving funds |
| title_full | From Congress to disadvantaged communities: an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to Alabama through state revolving funds |
| title_fullStr | From Congress to disadvantaged communities: an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to Alabama through state revolving funds |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Congress to disadvantaged communities: an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to Alabama through state revolving funds |
| title_short | From Congress to disadvantaged communities: an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to Alabama through state revolving funds |
| title_sort | from congress to disadvantaged communities an analysis of federal water infrastructure investments distributed to alabama through state revolving funds |
| topic | water infrastructure investments funding policies drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adeba1 |
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