Guest Columns

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) has proudly announced the 2021 WEF Awards recipients for individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the sustainability of water resources and made a profound impact on the future of the water profession. “Long-term resilience for the world’sRead More

House Democrats are proposing an additional $30 billion in federal funds for lead service line replacement efforts nationwide, a figure that would be in addition to $15 billion for lead service line replacements that was included in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) approved by the SenateRead More

After a week-long trial, a federal jury has awarded the City of Pomona $48 million in damages from SQM North America Corp., a subsidiary of a large Chilean mining company, for the costs of cleanup of the toxic chemical perchlorate from the city’s groundwater supply. Fertilizer sold byRead More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the availability of $25 million in Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act grants to help improve drinking water. EPA says it is committed to ensuring that all Americans, especially those living in small towns andRead More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has received 50 letters of interest in response to the agency’s 2021 Notices of Funding Availability. Requests totaling $8.2 billion exceed the agency’s $6.5 billion in available financing and highlight widespread needs for water infrastructure upgrades to benefit communities across theRead More

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act after months of bipartisan negotiations between the Biden Administration and a bipartisan group of Senators. The legislative package contains $550 billion in new spending, of which $55 billion will go toward clean andRead More

By Ryan Sitton At the beginning of this year, an unprecedented freeze hit the southern part of the United States. The state of Texas, which has its own, self-contained energy grid, saw power outages that it had never experienced. At one point, nearly six millionRead More

Water system providers across the United States have joined a multidistrict litigation (MDL) suit claiming that their water supplies are contaminated with per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF). These chemicals have been used for decades to extinguish chemical or petroleum firesRead More

The U.S. Senate worked into the weekend on a massive infrastructure bill that promises to spend an additional $550 billion on infrastructure over five years, including $48.4 billion focused on drinking water and wastewater programs at the U.S. EPA. As of Friday, the measure appearedRead More

Last week, the House of Representatives approved legislation that would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish national drinking water standards for regulating harmful forever chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), that are linked to kidney, liver and other health problems.Read More