March 2026 AWWA Water Utility Insider

April 1, 2026

Posted By: Hillary M. Caron in Community News, Industry, Member Blogs,

Water Utility Insider

The Utility Insider Quarterly is a snapshot of AWWA legislative, regulatory and emergency preparedness activities excerpted from the Water Utility/Services Insider and other sources.

Get AWWA Insider news every other week when you become an AWWA Water Utility or Organizational member

AWWA releases new infrastructure and affordability report

AWWA released a new infrastructure and affordability report called, Beyond the Replacement Era: Balancing Compounding Infrastructure Needs with Household Affordability, which examines the rising costs of sustaining essential infrastructure along with several additional cost drivers.

Key takeaways from the report include:

The water sector has entered a new cost era.
There is a persistent and growing funding gap.
Household drinking water bills are likely to more than double.
Affordability is at a tipping point.
Core federal infrastructure loan programs are critical.

The report, created in partnership with Raftelis and OneWater Econ, finds that drinking water systems need to invest between $2.1 and 2.4 trillion over the next 25 years to repair, replace, and expand infrastructure; comply with existing regulations; and improve their resilience to natural hazards.

To meet the projected need without additional federal assistance, water systems would have to spend $90.2 billion per year for 25 years — a 168% increase over current annual spending levels of $33.6 billion. Closing this $56 billion annual funding gap through rate increases alone would push the average annual water bill up from $429 today to $969 in 2050, before accounting for inflation. The number of households facing water affordability challenges would also increase from 10 million to 30 million by 2050.

The full 60-page report is available for free download here.

AWWA sends letter to Congress outlining priorities

AWWA sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, and U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee outlining the association’s key priorities for the second session of the 119th Congress, including:

Liability protections for drinking water and wastewater utilities under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in connection with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Establishment of a permanent low-income water customer assistance program
A suite of bills that would improve water systems’ resilience to cybersecurity threats and natural hazards.
Reauthorization of core water infrastructure funding programs like the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA).

EPA submits proposed revisions to PFAS drinking water rule

On Feb. 24, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted two proposed rules to revise the agency’s final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR), finalized April 2024. One rule will seek to rescind the regulatory determinations and remove related provisions for PFHxS, PFNA, and HFPO-DA — and the mixture of these per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) plus PFBS — under the Hazard Index framework. The second rule seeks to extend the compliance deadline for the PFAS NPDWR.

These proposed rules follow from Administrator Lee Zeldin’s May 2025 announcement stating that EPA intends retain its maximum contaminant levels for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), but extend compliance deadlines, — potentially under a federal exemption framework — and rescind regulatory determinations and related provisions for PFAS regulated under the Hazard Index. Submission of these two proposed rules marks the beginning of the interagency review process. Following interagency review, the proposed rules will be published in the Federal Register for public comment.

Updates on the judicial reviews of SDWA

Feb. 20 was a filing deadline in both the active Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) judicial review proceedings.

Lead and Copper
In the U.S. District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Case No. 24-1376, in which AWWA sought review of the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements rulemaking, EPA filed its respondent’s brief. In its brief, EPA defends its view that “access” affords water systems “control” of lead service lines sufficient to allow identification and replacement. It also defends the rule’s cost analysis and feasibility. AWWA’s filings are available on https://www.awwa.org/resource/lead/.

PFAS
The water association petitioners and industry petitioners filed reply briefs reinforcing earlier arguments and responding to EPA’s respondent’s brief in Case No. 24-1188, the judicial review of the PFAS drinking water standard. This case is also before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court is also considering a motion from the Department of Justice to sever and hold in abeyance “challenges to the Index PFAS regulatory determinations and regulations and hold those claims in abeyance while EPA’s rulemaking in which it has proposed to rescind those actions proceeds.” EPA cites the proposed rule described in the above section.

AWWA leads joint letter on cybersecurity priorities

AWWA, in collaboration with five other associations, sent a letter to Congress outlining the ways it can support water and wastewater systems as they strive to improve cyber resilience and recover from cyberattacks. The joint letter by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF), Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), National Rural Water Association (NRWA), and National Association of Water Companies (NAWC) marks the first time the organizations have collaborated on cybersecurity priorities.

AWWA and partners delivered this letter shortly before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on cybersecurity in the water sector. Many of the priorities highlighted in the letter were featured during the hearing, including the need for additional funding, technical assistance, and expanded reauthorized grant programs.

AWWA partners with Veolia on operator training

AWWA Executive Director of Government Affairs Tracy Mehan joined leaders from Veolia North America and WEF leaders Feb. 4 to announce a partnership to provide free online training for operators. Veolia Workforce Academy North America provides technical training and preparations for the state certifications necessary to enter and advance a career in the water industry.

“Securing the future water workforce is job number one," said AWWA CEO David LaFrance. “We can’t deliver safe, reliable water and protect the environment without a trained and committed water workforce. AWWA’s Water 2050 initiative sees partnerships exactly like this one with Veolia and WEF as key to building talent pipelines and assuring a sustainable water future.”

New resource discusses key source water protection feature

Source water protection has played an important role in Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) agricultural conservation programs since 2018. One key incentive for projects designed to protect sources of drinking water is their eligibility for higher payment rates than most other conservation projects — making them an attractive option for farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural producers.

AWWA’s newly released resource, “Farm Bill Authorizes up to 90% Payment Rates for Source Water Protection,” explores this 90% payment rate feature and offers practical guidance for those looking to advance source water protection. The document outlines specific steps for building the relationships needed to work collaboratively with the agricultural community to take advantage of this provision, as well as other Farm Bill provisions beneficial to source water protection. Resources on similar topics can be found on AWWA’s source water protection webpage.

EPA finalizes Reg-Det 5

The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments require EPA to publish determinations to either regulate (or not) at least five contaminants every five years. On March 19, the agency published the nine negative regulatory determinations it proposed Jan. 15, 2025. The negative determinations are: 2- aminotoluene, cylindrospermopsin, ethoprop, microcystins, molybdenum, permethrin, profenofos, tebuconazole, and tribufos. Support documents address several “no action” contaminants discussed in the proposed rule. Those documents indicate EPA plans to revisit its 2024 Toxic Substances Control Act risk evaluation for 1,4 dioxane, potentially returning this contaminant to the SDWA decision-making process rather than using TSCA to manage releases from commercial uses. The agency also notes that it is modifying EPA Method 524.3 to improve detection of 1,2,3 trichloropropane, so as to allow monitoring at levels relevant to health reference levels (i.e., preparation for monitoring under the Unregulated Contaminants Monitoring Rule).

FEMA announces $1 billion in resilience funding

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has published a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) under the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Through this funding opportunity, $1 billion in federal funding is available to states, local governments, territories and tribal nations, empowering them to take decisive, proactive steps to protect their communities from potential disasters like fires, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes.

Many water systems have successfully leveraged the BRIC program to mitigate vulnerabilities identified as part of the risk and resilience assessments prepared to comply with SDWA §1433. Eligible sub-applicants include local governments, cities, townships, counties, special district governments, and tribal nations. Water systems must work with the designated state agency — typically the homeland security or emergency management agency— to submit an application. The NOFO closes July 23.

Google issues request for information for water projects in certain watersheds

Google is a major owner and operator of data centers in a number of watersheds across the United States. As part of their goal of net water neutrality, Google has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on projects that could offset the water use of facilities in the watersheds where they have operations.

The RFI focuses on water replenishment and includes three categories: infrastructure, agriculture and nature-based solutions. The infrastructure category specifically calls out water loss control, aquifer storage and recovery, and certain other improvements to drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems. Projects are expected to be in the range of $350,000 to $6 million for Google’s grant share.

Projects are welcomed in the identified areas shown on their Water RFI page. Stakeholders in those areas are encouraged to consider submitting projects that could benefit from this assistance. The RFI closes April 30.

The Water Utility Insider is developed by AWWA's Government Affairs Office in Washington, D.C. Contact them with questions on legislative or regulatory matters.

JOB: Water Treatment Plant Operator (Sheboygan, WI)April 1, 2026