Senate introduces FLOW Act to streamline LSL replacement financing

A Senate version of the Financing Lead Out of Water (FLOW) Act was introduced last week after months of work by water sector stakeholders. The legislation, which has a companion bill in the House of Representatives, is sponsored by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and was introduced with the support of six original Senate co-sponsors.

The bill was developed by the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) earlier this year. According to AMWA, it comes in response to the experience of Denver Water after the utility tried to use tax-exempt debt to finance lead service line replacement on both the public and homeowner side. But Denver Water faced IRS rules that require documentation of how many private businesses operated out of homes where a private lead service line was to be replaced. According to Denver Water, this process added cost and months of administrative work to the project.