Biden-Harris Administration Invests $250M to Reduce Wildfire Risk to Communities across State, Private, and Tribal lands as part of Investing in America agenda
YAKIMA, Wash., May 14, 2024 – Today, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small announced $250 million to help at-risk communities protect their homes, businesses and infrastructure from catastrophic wildfire, made worse by the climate crisis, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
Biden-Harris Administration Invests in Wood Products to Support Local Jobs and Healthy Forests in 41 States and American Samoa as part of Investing in America agenda
YAKIMA, Wash., May 14, 2024 — Today, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small announced that the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is investing nearly $74 million to spark innovation, create new markets for wood products and renewable wood energy from sustainably sourced wood, and increase the capacity of wood processing facilities as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
During Infrastructure Week, Biden-Harris Administration Announces Projects to Strengthen Rural Infrastructure and Create Jobs Across the Nation
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is funding 47 projects in 23 states to improve access to reliable electricity and clean drinking water for more than one million people and create good-paying jobs across the nation.
EPA, DEQ, Panhandle Health to celebrate 50 years of protecting children from lead poisoning
EPA, DEQ, Panhandle Health to celebrate 50 years of protecting children from lead poisoning
On Wednesday May 15, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission will host an event at Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg highlighting decades of work to protect Silver Valley children from lead poisoning after the infamous 1973 Bunker Hill smelter baghouse fire, the worst lead poisoning event in U.S. history. The work has made the Silver Valley a much healthier place to live, work and play.
For the last 50 years EPA and its partners – Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Panhandle Health District, and the Basin Commission -- have cleaned up countless abandoned mines, treated and re-forested hundreds of acres of metals-laden hillsides, and removed millions of tons of contaminated soil from over 7,000 residential and school yards, play areas, roads, streambeds and mine sites.
Over the last 50 years, average blood lead levels in children tested by Panhandle Health District have declined from about 67 to 2 micrograms per deciliter (μg/dL), well below the Centers for Disease Control’s reference value of 3.5 (μg/dL). The work at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site is nowhere near complete but vast improvements have been made and should be celebrated.
Please join EPA, IDEQ, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, PHD, and the Basin Commission Wednesday May 15 from 4:00 -7:00 PM at Noah’s Loft at the Silver Mountain Resort, 610 Bunker Avenue in Kellogg
as we celebrate hard-won battles in the 50 years long (and counting!) war against lead in the Silver Valley and the Coeur d’Alene Basin.
The commemoration follows the regular quarterly meeting of the BEIPC which reviews upcoming remediation and restoration plans, and previous workplans. The May 15 meeting will also highlight water quality improvements made over the last 30 years.
Background: Fire at the Bunker Hill Baghouse
September 3, 1973, when a fire disabled much of the main pollution control device on the Bunker Hill Mine’s lead smelter in Smelterville, Idaho, the “Silver Valley” had been grappling for almost 100 years with significant environmental and public health problems caused by the mining and processing of the region’s abundant metals.
Some companies attempted to protect workers from debilitating illnesses that were cutting short their careers and their lives. In fact, in its 2005 report on cleanup of the Bunker Hill Superfund site, the National Academies of Science noted that “By 1920, Bunker Hill management realized that their smelter could be causing some health risks for its employees and initiated an unproven electrolytic treatment for removing the lead from their bodies.”
And for decades, Bunker Hill Mining Corporation -- the largest lead and zinc mine in the U.S. -- and other mining companies in the Silver Valley had been compensating downstream farmers for damage to crops and livestock. The mining companies also purchased “pollution easements” allowing them to discharge mine tailings directly into the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River and several of its tributaries.
After the baghouse fire was extinguished, the mine’s owner, Gulf Resources, determined that the financial benefits of continuing to operate the crippled smelter were greater than the legal risks of spewing huge amounts of lead and other pollutants into the community. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, a division within CDC, the smelter poured an average of 73 tons of lead each month into Smelterville and surrounding Kellogg neighborhoods from September 1973 until August 1974 when it was shut down.
Unsurprisingly, a 1976 study conducted by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in the months following the fire found that 99% of Smelterville children had blood lead levels at or above the CDC’s level of concern at the time. These were among the highest blood levels ever recorded.
Armed at the time with limited authorities, health and environmental agencies scrambled to stop dangerous waste and pollution management practices and simultaneously reduce kids’ exposures to lead soil and dust. The work had near immediate impacts: By 1981 only 19% of Smelterville children tested had blood lead levels that exceeded that era’s national average.
Despite effective work combatting the acute crisis in Smelterville and Kellogg, annual flooding events, development, ongoing mine and smelting operations, and even mine closures continued to inject more pollution into communities throughout the Silver Valley, repeatedly exposing children to dangerous levels of lead.
Of particular concern was the impact of acidic smelter emissions on the inability of the surrounding hillsides to grow vegetation after they’d been heavily logged to build the mines, towns, and railroads. The denuded unfertile hillsides had become little more than enormous deposits of metals-laden soil with nothing to keep it in place during the yearly spring floods that regularly inundated and contaminated downstream communities like Wallace and Kellogg.
In 1983, EPA listed the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex as a Superfund site. Expanded in 2002, the BHSS includes environmental cleanup and restoration work in areas contaminated by mining waste in the Coeur d’Alene River Watershed totaling about 1,500 square miles. It is one of the largest Superfund sites in the nation.
Armed with a spate of new environmental statutes, state and federal agencies took on the problem, removing wastes from countless abandoned mines, treating and re-foresting the denuded hillsides, and placing millions of tons of contaminated soil into repositories where it is securely stored and monitored. Previously acidic streams once devoid of life now host abundant fish populations and nurse the trees and shrubs that stabilize their banks and reduce dangerous flooding.
Panhandle Health District’s Kellogg office has conducted free annual blood lead testing to help identify children with elevated blood lead levels and determine how they’re being exposed to lead. The EPA and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality focus their cleanup efforts on properties with high lead levels that pose the greatest risk to children. So far, EPA has removed leaded soils from over 7,000 properties throughout the Silver Valley.
Ultimately, the 1973 baghouse fire set in motion an enormous amount of work to mitigate the devastating impacts that mining and smelting had had on the environment and the health of the people in the Silver Valley and downstream communities. That work has protected generations of children from elevated blood lead levels and transformed much of the landscape that contributed to the public health risks confronted by the region’s residents.
Bunker Hill smelter before cleanup
Bunker Hill smelter after cleanup
On Wednesday May 15, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission will host an event at Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg highlighting decades of work to protect Silver Valley children from lead poisoning after the infamous 1973 Bunker Hill smelter baghouse fire, the worst lead poisoning event in U.S. history. The work has made the Silver Valley a much healthier place to live, work and play.
For the last 50 years EPA and its partners – Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Panhandle Health District, and the Basin Commission -- have cleaned up countless abandoned mines, treated and re-forested hundreds of acres of metals-laden hillsides, and removed millions of tons of contaminated soil from over 7,000 residential and school yards, play areas, roads, streambeds and mine sites.
Over the last 50 years, average blood lead levels in children tested by Panhandle Health District have declined from about 67 to 2 micrograms per deciliter (μg/dL), well below the Centers for Disease Control’s reference value of 3.5 (μg/dL). The work at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site is nowhere near complete but vast improvements have been made and should be celebrated.
Please join EPA, IDEQ, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, PHD, and the Basin Commission Wednesday May 15 from 4:00 -7:00 PM at Noah’s Loft at the Silver Mountain Resort, 610 Bunker Avenue in Kellogg
as we celebrate hard-won battles in the 50 years long (and counting!) war against lead in the Silver Valley and the Coeur d’Alene Basin.
The commemoration follows the regular quarterly meeting of the BEIPC which reviews upcoming remediation and restoration plans, and previous workplans. The May 15 meeting will also highlight water quality improvements made over the last 30 years.
Background: Fire at the Bunker Hill Baghouse
September 3, 1973, when a fire disabled much of the main pollution control device on the Bunker Hill Mine’s lead smelter in Smelterville, Idaho, the “Silver Valley” had been grappling for almost 100 years with significant environmental and public health problems caused by the mining and processing of the region’s abundant metals.
Some companies attempted to protect workers from debilitating illnesses that were cutting short their careers and their lives. In fact, in its 2005 report on cleanup of the Bunker Hill Superfund site, the National Academies of Science noted that “By 1920, Bunker Hill management realized that their smelter could be causing some health risks for its employees and initiated an unproven electrolytic treatment for removing the lead from their bodies.”
And for decades, Bunker Hill Mining Corporation -- the largest lead and zinc mine in the U.S. -- and other mining companies in the Silver Valley had been compensating downstream farmers for damage to crops and livestock. The mining companies also purchased “pollution easements” allowing them to discharge mine tailings directly into the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River and several of its tributaries.
After the baghouse fire was extinguished, the mine’s owner, Gulf Resources, determined that the financial benefits of continuing to operate the crippled smelter were greater than the legal risks of spewing huge amounts of lead and other pollutants into the community. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, a division within CDC, the smelter poured an average of 73 tons of lead each month into Smelterville and surrounding Kellogg neighborhoods from September 1973 until August 1974 when it was shut down.
Unsurprisingly, a 1976 study conducted by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in the months following the fire found that 99% of Smelterville children had blood lead levels at or above the CDC’s level of concern at the time. These were among the highest blood levels ever recorded.
Armed at the time with limited authorities, health and environmental agencies scrambled to stop dangerous waste and pollution management practices and simultaneously reduce kids’ exposures to lead soil and dust. The work had near immediate impacts: By 1981 only 19% of Smelterville children tested had blood lead levels that exceeded that era’s national average.
Despite effective work combatting the acute crisis in Smelterville and Kellogg, annual flooding events, development, ongoing mine and smelting operations, and even mine closures continued to inject more pollution into communities throughout the Silver Valley, repeatedly exposing children to dangerous levels of lead.
Of particular concern was the impact of acidic smelter emissions on the inability of the surrounding hillsides to grow vegetation after they’d been heavily logged to build the mines, towns, and railroads. The denuded unfertile hillsides had become little more than enormous deposits of metals-laden soil with nothing to keep it in place during the yearly spring floods that regularly inundated and contaminated downstream communities like Wallace and Kellogg.
In 1983, EPA listed the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex as a Superfund site. Expanded in 2002, the BHSS includes environmental cleanup and restoration work in areas contaminated by mining waste in the Coeur d’Alene River Watershed totaling about 1,500 square miles. It is one of the largest Superfund sites in the nation.
Armed with a spate of new environmental statutes, state and federal agencies took on the problem, removing wastes from countless abandoned mines, treating and re-foresting the denuded hillsides, and placing millions of tons of contaminated soil into repositories where it is securely stored and monitored. Previously acidic streams once devoid of life now host abundant fish populations and nurse the trees and shrubs that stabilize their banks and reduce dangerous flooding.
Panhandle Health District’s Kellogg office has conducted free annual blood lead testing to help identify children with elevated blood lead levels and determine how they’re being exposed to lead. The EPA and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality focus their cleanup efforts on properties with high lead levels that pose the greatest risk to children. So far, EPA has removed leaded soils from over 7,000 properties throughout the Silver Valley.
Ultimately, the 1973 baghouse fire set in motion an enormous amount of work to mitigate the devastating impacts that mining and smelting had had on the environment and the health of the people in the Silver Valley and downstream communities. That work has protected generations of children from elevated blood lead levels and transformed much of the landscape that contributed to the public health risks confronted by the region’s residents.
Bunker Hill smelter before cleanup
Bunker Hill smelter after cleanup
EPA, Congresswoman Wexton host event recognizing progress in accelerated cleanup, new waterline at Hidden Lane
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator and U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (VA-10) celebrated the significant progress made in addressing contamination and restoring safe drinking water at the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site in Sterling, Virginia.
EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz with Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton and Loudoun County Supervisor Juli Briskman.Thanks to more than $22 million made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the event marked the EPA’s aggressive remediation efforts in removing the TCE source area and preparing for installing a new waterline that will provide more than 110 homes with safe drinking water.
"The EPA is committed to safeguarding our environment and communities," said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. "Thanks to resources provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the EPA and its partners have accelerated cleanup efforts at the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site to remove contaminants and provide safe drinking water. This incredible progress demonstrates the EPA's promise to remove contamination, revitalize communities and local economies, and deliver on our mission to protect public health and the environment."
Loudoun County Supervisor Juli Briskman, community members and representatives from federal, state and local partners also joined the two officials.
“I’m proud that thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re taking long-awaited action to clean up the Hidden Lane Superfund site in Sterling," said U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (VA-10). This will make our community healthier and safer. I applaud the efforts currently underway here by the EPA and state and local agencies to remove toxic substances from the soil and groundwater, including the dangerous chemical TCE which has been tied to Parkinson’s Disease. I look forward to continuing to support this cleanup in any way that I can."
The historic BIL funding invested $3.5 billion in Superfund cleanups across the country, dramatically empowering the EPA to address legacy pollution and protect public health and surrounding communities. The final wave of funding was announced in February.
Altogether, the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site received:
Approximately $5 million for TCE source area cleanup
Approximately $17 million for the installation of a new public waterline
Excavation at the site started Feb. 20 and is set to finish later this year. Construction on the waterline is also expected to begin later this year.
The Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site, located between the Broad Run Farms and CountrySide communities, was added to the National Priorities List in 2008.
Community members can email r3-hidden.lane@epa.gov with questions or concerns about the cleanup process.
Visit the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site profile page for more information.
EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz speaking at a podium.
EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz with Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton and Loudoun County Supervisor Juli Briskman.Thanks to more than $22 million made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the event marked the EPA’s aggressive remediation efforts in removing the TCE source area and preparing for installing a new waterline that will provide more than 110 homes with safe drinking water.
"The EPA is committed to safeguarding our environment and communities," said EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. "Thanks to resources provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the EPA and its partners have accelerated cleanup efforts at the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site to remove contaminants and provide safe drinking water. This incredible progress demonstrates the EPA's promise to remove contamination, revitalize communities and local economies, and deliver on our mission to protect public health and the environment."
Loudoun County Supervisor Juli Briskman, community members and representatives from federal, state and local partners also joined the two officials.
“I’m proud that thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re taking long-awaited action to clean up the Hidden Lane Superfund site in Sterling," said U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (VA-10). This will make our community healthier and safer. I applaud the efforts currently underway here by the EPA and state and local agencies to remove toxic substances from the soil and groundwater, including the dangerous chemical TCE which has been tied to Parkinson’s Disease. I look forward to continuing to support this cleanup in any way that I can."
The historic BIL funding invested $3.5 billion in Superfund cleanups across the country, dramatically empowering the EPA to address legacy pollution and protect public health and surrounding communities. The final wave of funding was announced in February.
Altogether, the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site received:
Approximately $5 million for TCE source area cleanup
Approximately $17 million for the installation of a new public waterline
Excavation at the site started Feb. 20 and is set to finish later this year. Construction on the waterline is also expected to begin later this year.
The Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site, located between the Broad Run Farms and CountrySide communities, was added to the National Priorities List in 2008.
Community members can email r3-hidden.lane@epa.gov with questions or concerns about the cleanup process.
Visit the Hidden Lane Landfill Superfund site profile page for more information.
EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz speaking at a podium.
EPA Announces Over $2.8M in Available Grants to Upgrade Stormwater and Sewer Infrastructure in Region 7
LENEXA, KAN. (MAY 14, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of $2,883,000 in funding through the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program to help communities address stormwater and sewer infrastructure needs in Region 7. Safely managing stormwater is critical to preventing contaminants, including untreated sewage, from polluting waterways.
EPA’s grant funding is available to states to support projects in cities and towns that will strengthen their stormwater collection systems to be more resilient against increasingly intense rain events made worse by the climate crisis.
Funding allotments available to Region 7 states are as follows:
Iowa: $326,000
Kansas: $461,000
Missouri: $1,567,000
Nebraska: $529,000
“This funding is an opportunity for small and financially struggling communities to obtain no-cost grants for critical stormwater and sewer system needs,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister. “No-cost grants help to ensure that upgrade prices do not get passed on to utility customers, and that’s a win for our community members.”
When rain and floodwaters overrun sewer and stormwater systems, they bypass treatment and transport pollution and sewage directly into creeks, streams, and rivers. These untreated discharges threaten human health, economic prosperity, and ecological function.
Stormwater management is a complex challenge for communities across the country. Through changes made by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this grant program will prioritize stormwater infrastructure projects in small and/or financially distressed and disadvantaged communities and prevent cost-share requirements from being passed on to these communities.
Additional funding for stormwater and wastewater upgrades is available through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA is providing $11.7 billion to states to upgrade wastewater infrastructure through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Additionally, the seventh round of EPA’s WIFIA financing is available – with $6.5 billion through WIFIA and $1 billion through the State infrastructure financing authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) program.
EPA is currently accepting letters of interest for WIFIA and SWIFIA, a loan program exclusively for state infrastructure financing authority borrowers. Learn more about submitting a letter of interest for a WIFIA loan.
These programs advance President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Learn more about the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program.
Background
Stormwater can be a significant source of water pollution and a public health concern. It can collect various pollutants, including trash, chemicals, oils, and dirt/sediment, and convey them to nearby waterways. When mixed with domestic and industrial wastewater in combined sewers, stormwater can also contribute to combined sewer overflows during heavy storm events.
EPA is working with local and state partners to leverage the resources of the federal government to meet the needs of these communities. In the past, states and communities shared a fixed portion of the costs associated with all projects funded through the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law changed the program so that 25% of its funds go to available projects in small and/or financially distressed communities; it also limited states’ abilities to pass on the burden of cost sharing to these communities.
To encourage investment in these critical projects, EPA modified the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program so that state grantees are not required to contribute cost-share money for program projects located in small or financially distressed communities. However, grant portions that go to communities other than small or financially distressed ones will include a cost-share requirement.
# # #
Learn more about EPA Region 7
View all Region 7 news releases
Connect with EPA Region 7 on Facebook and Instagram
Follow us on X: @EPARegion7
EPA’s grant funding is available to states to support projects in cities and towns that will strengthen their stormwater collection systems to be more resilient against increasingly intense rain events made worse by the climate crisis.
Funding allotments available to Region 7 states are as follows:
Iowa: $326,000
Kansas: $461,000
Missouri: $1,567,000
Nebraska: $529,000
“This funding is an opportunity for small and financially struggling communities to obtain no-cost grants for critical stormwater and sewer system needs,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Meg McCollister. “No-cost grants help to ensure that upgrade prices do not get passed on to utility customers, and that’s a win for our community members.”
When rain and floodwaters overrun sewer and stormwater systems, they bypass treatment and transport pollution and sewage directly into creeks, streams, and rivers. These untreated discharges threaten human health, economic prosperity, and ecological function.
Stormwater management is a complex challenge for communities across the country. Through changes made by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this grant program will prioritize stormwater infrastructure projects in small and/or financially distressed and disadvantaged communities and prevent cost-share requirements from being passed on to these communities.
Additional funding for stormwater and wastewater upgrades is available through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA is providing $11.7 billion to states to upgrade wastewater infrastructure through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Additionally, the seventh round of EPA’s WIFIA financing is available – with $6.5 billion through WIFIA and $1 billion through the State infrastructure financing authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) program.
EPA is currently accepting letters of interest for WIFIA and SWIFIA, a loan program exclusively for state infrastructure financing authority borrowers. Learn more about submitting a letter of interest for a WIFIA loan.
These programs advance President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Learn more about the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program.
Background
Stormwater can be a significant source of water pollution and a public health concern. It can collect various pollutants, including trash, chemicals, oils, and dirt/sediment, and convey them to nearby waterways. When mixed with domestic and industrial wastewater in combined sewers, stormwater can also contribute to combined sewer overflows during heavy storm events.
EPA is working with local and state partners to leverage the resources of the federal government to meet the needs of these communities. In the past, states and communities shared a fixed portion of the costs associated with all projects funded through the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law changed the program so that 25% of its funds go to available projects in small and/or financially distressed communities; it also limited states’ abilities to pass on the burden of cost sharing to these communities.
To encourage investment in these critical projects, EPA modified the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program so that state grantees are not required to contribute cost-share money for program projects located in small or financially distressed communities. However, grant portions that go to communities other than small or financially distressed ones will include a cost-share requirement.
# # #
Learn more about EPA Region 7
View all Region 7 news releases
Connect with EPA Region 7 on Facebook and Instagram
Follow us on X: @EPARegion7
New EPA Survey Highlights Wastewater Infrastructure Needs to Protect Waterbodies in Communities Across the Country
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, May 13, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency transmitted a report to Congress outlining clean water infrastructure investments—including wastewater and stormwater system upgrades—that are needed over the next 20 years. Through the Clean Watersheds Needs Survey, states and U.S. territories report on future capital costs or investment needs to maintain and modernize publicly owned wastewater treatment works, stormwater infrastructure, nonpoint source control, and decentralized wastewater treatment systems like septic tanks. These investments are essential to supporting the Clean Water Act’s goal that our nation’s waters are fishable and swimmable.
The 2022 survey represents the most recent comprehensive and robust report on wastewater, stormwater, and other clean water infrastructure needs in the U.S., and shows that at least $630 billion will be needed over the next 20 years to protect our nation’s waterbodies.
“Protecting our nations waterways is vital for healthy communities. They provide sources of drinking water, support farming, power economic opportunity and transport and allow for recreation and fishing,” said Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Bruno Pigott. “This survey is an important estimate of needs that is based on information collected from the communities themselves. President Biden has secured the largest investments in history for water infrastructure, putting America in a strong position to help local systems protect our nation’s water quality.”
EPA has many federal funding resources available for communities and utilities to improve vital drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a historic $50 billion investment in upgrading critical water infrastructure – with almost $13 billion going to wastewater and stormwater management. EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving fund has supported over $160 billion in infrastructure since its inception in 1987, and EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program has issued over $43 billion in financing for water infrastructure projects since 2018.
Learn more about the survey and access the interactive dashboard.
Background
This is the 17th survey conducted since the passage of the Clean Water Act over 50 years ago. The last survey was conducted in 2012. Along with the needs data, the survey also collected technical data from all existing treatment facilities (e.g., flow, population served, effluent level, etc.). As of January 2022, there are 17,544 POTWs serving 270.4 million Americans, or 82% of the population. This information can be viewed and downloaded on the CWNS website.
The 2022 survey represents the most recent comprehensive and robust report on wastewater, stormwater, and other clean water infrastructure needs in the U.S., and shows that at least $630 billion will be needed over the next 20 years to protect our nation’s waterbodies.
“Protecting our nations waterways is vital for healthy communities. They provide sources of drinking water, support farming, power economic opportunity and transport and allow for recreation and fishing,” said Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Bruno Pigott. “This survey is an important estimate of needs that is based on information collected from the communities themselves. President Biden has secured the largest investments in history for water infrastructure, putting America in a strong position to help local systems protect our nation’s water quality.”
EPA has many federal funding resources available for communities and utilities to improve vital drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a historic $50 billion investment in upgrading critical water infrastructure – with almost $13 billion going to wastewater and stormwater management. EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving fund has supported over $160 billion in infrastructure since its inception in 1987, and EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program has issued over $43 billion in financing for water infrastructure projects since 2018.
Learn more about the survey and access the interactive dashboard.
Background
This is the 17th survey conducted since the passage of the Clean Water Act over 50 years ago. The last survey was conducted in 2012. Along with the needs data, the survey also collected technical data from all existing treatment facilities (e.g., flow, population served, effluent level, etc.). As of January 2022, there are 17,544 POTWs serving 270.4 million Americans, or 82% of the population. This information can be viewed and downloaded on the CWNS website.
EPA Settlement Sets Stage for $2.4 Million Cleanup at Olean Well Field Superfund Site in Olean, New York
NEW YORK (May 14, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a final legal agreement with Kyocera AVX Components Corp. (KAVX) to clean up contaminated soil that was under the former AVX manufacturing building at the Olean Well Field Superfund Site in Olean, New York. The cleanup work has an estimate value of about $2.4 million. Under the agreement, the company will also pay some past and all future EPA oversight costs. The site includes several former industrial facilities that left the soil and groundwater contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). EPA has overseen work to cleanup soil and groundwater throughout the site.
“This settlement allows us to address an important source of contamination and it ensures that the polluter is being held responsible for cleaning up contamination in this community,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia.
On September 27, 2023, EPA finalized a cleanup plan for the portion of the site owned by KAVX. The plan will address soil contamination located under and near a former manufacturing building on the KAVX property.
Under the plan, KAVX will:
Demolish and remove the concrete slab floor and foundation.
Dig out the polluted soil that is above the water table.
Take the dug-out material off-site for disposal in appropriate facilities.
Restore the area with clean fill.
The Olean Well Field site is an approximately 1.5 square-mile area in Cattaraugus County that contains various wells, homes, and manufacturing facilities. Earlier industrial operations at the AVX property, as well as at three other facilities that EPA considers sources of site contamination, resulted in the contamination of soil and groundwater with trichloroethylene, 1,4-dioxane, and other volatile organic compounds. As a result of the contamination at all four facilities, EPA added the site to the Superfund list in 1983. Since that time, EPA has taken steps to ensure clean public drinking water and to cleanup the four source facilities impacting soil and groundwater. Most of the work is being carried out by parties responsible for contamination at the site.
Before being finalized, the agreement, in the form of a judicial consent decree, was made available for a required 30-day public comment period. No comments were received on the agreement.
Visit the Olean Well Field Superfund site profile page for additional background and site documents.
Follow EPA Region 2 on X and visit our Facebook page. For more information about EPA Region 2, visit our website.
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“This settlement allows us to address an important source of contamination and it ensures that the polluter is being held responsible for cleaning up contamination in this community,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia.
On September 27, 2023, EPA finalized a cleanup plan for the portion of the site owned by KAVX. The plan will address soil contamination located under and near a former manufacturing building on the KAVX property.
Under the plan, KAVX will:
Demolish and remove the concrete slab floor and foundation.
Dig out the polluted soil that is above the water table.
Take the dug-out material off-site for disposal in appropriate facilities.
Restore the area with clean fill.
The Olean Well Field site is an approximately 1.5 square-mile area in Cattaraugus County that contains various wells, homes, and manufacturing facilities. Earlier industrial operations at the AVX property, as well as at three other facilities that EPA considers sources of site contamination, resulted in the contamination of soil and groundwater with trichloroethylene, 1,4-dioxane, and other volatile organic compounds. As a result of the contamination at all four facilities, EPA added the site to the Superfund list in 1983. Since that time, EPA has taken steps to ensure clean public drinking water and to cleanup the four source facilities impacting soil and groundwater. Most of the work is being carried out by parties responsible for contamination at the site.
Before being finalized, the agreement, in the form of a judicial consent decree, was made available for a required 30-day public comment period. No comments were received on the agreement.
Visit the Olean Well Field Superfund site profile page for additional background and site documents.
Follow EPA Region 2 on X and visit our Facebook page. For more information about EPA Region 2, visit our website.
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