"Racial Disparities Beset EPA, State Wastewater Funds"

"As the federal government injects a historic amount of money from the bipartisan infrastructure law into the nation’s sewage and drinking water systems, research shows the money has not historically reached the underserved rural and minority communities that need it most.

A new analysis of EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund released today shows communities with fewer people and those with larger communities of color have received less federal assistance for upgrading wastewater treatment plants and stormwater management systems during the past decade.

“Many of the state policies that caused these inequities are still in place, so the billions of federal dollars now streaming into states from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law may not make it to communities that have been shut out, unless we reform the [Clean Water State Revolving Fund] to make it more effective for all,” said Rebecca Hammer, deputy director for federal water policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a co-author of the report."

Hannah Northey reports for E&E News October 26, 2022.

Source: E&E News, 10/28/2022