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EPA announces availability of $30M in new funding to improve water infrastructure in the Pacific Island territories

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A total of $2.6 billion available across the United States
Source: US-EPA media release

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of nearly $2.6 billion in funds to assist states, tribes, and territories with improving drinking water and wastewater infrastructure across the country.

The U.S. Pacific Island Territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are eligible to receive a total of $29,984,000 million. This funding advances President Trump’s efforts to rebuild the country’s aging water infrastructure, create local jobs, and ensure all Americans have safe and clean water.

“EPA is delivering on President Trump’s commitment to modernize our nation’s water infrastructure and improve public health and environmental protections,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “EPA’s $2.6 billion contribution to the State Revolving Funds will enable more communities to make the investments needed to ensure Americans have safe water for drinking and recreation. These funds can also be combined with EPA’s WIFIA loans to create a powerful, innovative financing solution for major infrastructure projects nationwide.”

“EPA is investing in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Mike Stoker. “With our Pacific Island partners, we’ll continue to improve the safety and reliability of our water resources for all.”

This year, EPA is making available across the nation more than $1 billion in new federal funding for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and approximately $1.6 billion in new federal funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). EPA allots a portion of the State Revolving Funds as grants to the U.S. territories and allotments from both the DWSRF and CWSRF are combined into a single grant for each of the territories to be used for priority drinking water and clean water projects. 

The Pacific Island Territories are eligible to receive $11.2 million from the DWSRF and $18.7 million from the CWSRF. These funds will provide grants that help drinking water systems install controls to treat contaminants such as PFAS and improve distribution systems by removing lead service lines, and a wide range of infrastructure projects, including modernizing aging wastewater infrastructure, implementing water reuse and recycling, and addressing stormwater.

According to EPA’s estimate of national drinking water and wastewater needs, over $743 billion is needed for water infrastructure improvements. The State Revolving Funds (SRFs) to the states, tribes and territories play an important part in meeting this need. Together, the SRFs have provided more than $170 billion.

For more information, visit https://www.epa.gov/drinkingwatersrf and https://www.epa.gov/cwsrf.

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