EPA Releases 2008 Clean Watershed Needs Survey

According to the U.S. EPA’s latest Clean Watershed Needs Survey (CWNS) nearly $300 billion is needed to manage U.S. clean water infrastructure over the next twenty years.  The 2008 report was released on June 1, 2010.

The CWNS, released every four years, determines the capital need over the following twenty years for “publicly owned wastewater pipes and treatment facilities; combined sewer overflow (CSO) correction; and stormwater management.”

It is estimated necessary investment is approximately $100 billion more than the $202.5 billion investment anticipated by the 2004 survey.

The release of the survey comes as the Senate considers clean water SRF reauthorization legislation (S. 1005).  The 2004 CWNS helped shape the state allocation numbers and the release of the report threatens to complicate state allocation percentage agreements and may further delay S. 1005 from reaching the Senate floor.  The House version of the bill, H.R. 5320, the “Assistance, Quality, and Affordability Act of 2010,” or AQUA Act, was approved in May by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, 45-1.

California’s projected need for infrastructure investment went up more than 17 percent between the 2004 CWNS and the new report.  Total state stormwater management needs went up more than 600 percent.

An EPA fact sheet on California’s 2008 CWNS results can be found here.