World Water Crisis (LIFE)

[funmaxus]

President Obama's Fiscal 2011 budget.
Environmental Protection Agency
Funding Highlights:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/environmental.pdf

• Provides $3.3 billion total for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds.
This will allow States and Tribes to initiate approximately 800 clean water and 500 drinking
water projects nationally, continuing a major Federal commitment to water infrastructure
investment.

• Provides new funding to support the Administration’s commitment to mitigate climate change.

• Continues support for collaborative, interagency ecosystem restoration efforts in the Great
Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and Mississippi River Basin.

• Provides grants for States and Tribes to administer delegated environmental programs at $1.3
billion, the highest level ever.

• Funds the Agency’s operating budget at $3.8 billion to support regulatory, research, and
enforcement activities.

• Supports economic growth and job creation in hard hit regions by bolstering Brownfields
cleanup.


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)is committed to protecting human health and the environment. To achieve this mission, EPA collaborates with States and Tribes to implement air,water, waste, and chemical programs. The Budget requests $10 billion for EPA, a substantially higher annual amount than requested under any previous Administration. This total expands the Administration’s 2010 increase to the Agency’s core operating budget, which provides funds for program implementation, priority research, enhanced regulation, and comprehensive enforcement activities. EPA’s budget also provides more funding for State and tribal program implementation grants than any previous budget. Invests in Clean Water Infrastructure. The Budget requests $3.3 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs). The Federal SRF funding provides grants to States for low-interest loans to communities through a combination of Federal capitalization, State matches, State leveraging, interest, and loan repayments. Since loan interest and principal payments are eturned
to the program, the SRFs continue to generate funding for new loans even without continued Federal funding. The Federal contribution to water and waste water infrastructure has been substantially incorporated into SRFs. These Funds, combined, now produce approximately $5 billion in repayments each year. As the Funds have grown, the need for Federal capitalization will decline over the next decade. Some ongoing contribution will be maintained so the neediest communities are adequately served. For 2011, EPA proposes a new approach to helping small drinking water systems, as well as reforms to improve the long-term financial, managerial,and environmental sustainability of the SRFs. As part of that strategy, Federal dollars provided through the SRFs will act as a catalyst for efficient system-wide planning, improvements in technical, financial and managerial capacity, and the design, construction and on-going management of sustainable water infrastructure.

Read more by going to http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/environmental.pdf

Commentary:
"The proposed budget levels for the SRF programs are $100 million less than each program is receiving for FY 2010, but near its historical highs."
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