August 7, 2026

Senator Shelly Moore Capito
Chair, Environment and Public Works Committee
170 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Ranking Member, Environment and Public Works Committee
530 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510

Representative Sam Graves
Chair, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
1135 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Representative Rick Larsen
Ranking Member, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
2163 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chair Capito, Chair Graves, Ranking Member Whitehouse, and Ranking Member Larsen,
We, the undersigned organizations, representing over 250,000 state and local governments, agencies, water utilities, labor unions, companies, and engineering an  public works professionals nationwide, would like to thank you for introducing and passing both the House and Senate’s Water Resources Development Act of 2026 (WRDA, H.R. 9497, S. 4949) out of Committee.
Well maintained water infrastructure is an important part of protecting human health and keeping our economy moving. For close to 85 years, Congress has provided funding for vital infrastructure programs to address water quality challenges and protect our nation’s water
resources. These long-standing programs are essential to the strength of our communities, and we strongly value the support the federal government provides through its biennial WRDA bills. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) authorizations of projects and studies are important to navigation, flood protection and ecosystem restoration in communities and the water infrastructure programs under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are essential for maintaining reliable access to affordable financing and providing clean and safe water for residents and businesses.
The federal government must maintain its high level of investment across all its grant and financing programs. We support provisions in the Senate bill that reauthorize long-standing EPA programs that are critical to delivering safe, clean water to communities and
provisions in both bills including, but not limited to:
  • Reauthorizing and increasing the funding for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA).
  • Maintaining Congress’ commitment to helping communities remove contaminants, including lead and forever chemicals from water systems.
  • Reaffirming that structural and nonstructural approaches to water resource management are part of the Corps’ core mission and clarifying the roles of the Corps and non-Federal partners in these projects
  • Supporting the long-term growth of the water sector workforce.

When communities are able to leverage low-interest loans from the SRFs, they save on average an estimated $960 million in interest costs over the life of the loan and can cut the cost of financing by more than 50 percent.  By reauthorizing these programs at levels proposed in S. 4949, these projects would generate $79.3 billion in economic output, contribute $42.7 billion to the national GDP, and support nearly 305,000 jobs.

We urge Congress to enact a final WRDA bill before the end of the year that includes these critical programs and provides robust, increased authorization for these essential EPA water infrastructure programs.

Sincerely,
Accelerator for America Action
American Council of Engineering Companies
American Public Works Association
American Society of Civil Engineers
Associated General Contractors of America, Inc.
Association Metropolitan Water Agencies
Association of State Drinking Water Administrators
California Association of Sanitation Agencies
Clean Water Construction Coalition
Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities
Environmental Council of the States
Government Finance Officers Association
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
Laborers International Union of North America
Louisville & Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District
National Association of Clean Water Agencies
National Association of Counties
National Association of Manufacturers
National Association of Regional Councils
National Association of Water Companies
National Conference of State Legislatures
National League of Cities
National Rural Water Association
National Utility Contractors Association
National Water Resources Association
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
Pittsburg Water
Protect our Kids from Lead
Rural Community Assistance Partnership
Stantec
U.S. Conference of Mayors
US Water Alliance
Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association, Inc.
Water Collaborative Delivery Association
Water Environment Federation
WateReuse Association
CC:
House Speaker Mike Johnson
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Senate Majority Leader John Thune
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Representative Brett Guthrie, Chair, House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Representative Frank Pallone, Ranking Member, House Committee on Energy and
Commerce
Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
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Publish Date

August 7, 2026

Advocacy Topic

Asset Management, Drinking Water, Resilience, Stormwater, Streets, Roads and Bridges, Sustainability, Traffic Engineering, Transportation, Wastewater, Water Resiliency

Country

United States