Published in Last Word
President Obama signed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) on Tuesday, authorizing $12.3 billion in funding over ten years for numerous new Corps of Engineers projects to develop, maintain, and support the nation’s waterway infrastructure. WRRDA passage was a major priority for the Council.
The law contains several critical reforms to the Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund (SRF) program, including expansion of SRF financing and an ACEC-proposed requirement to use Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) on federally funded wastewater projects.
In addition the law creates a national Levee Safety Program and establishes the new Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA), which will provide low-interest loans and loan guarantees to local governments for water infrastructure projects.
"World-class infrastructure is one of the reasons that America became a global superpower in the first place," said President Obama at the White Houe signing ceremony. "The fact that this bill received some bipartisan support I think hopefully sets a pattern for additional work that we can do on our transportation infrastructure."
#EnvironmentandEnergy