On Oct. 13, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Executive Order on Modernizing America’s Water Resources Management and Water Infrastructure.”

On Jan. 16, the WEF Government Affairs team held a webcast on water sector priorities in 2020.

Efforts to delay implementation of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule were invalidated by lower court. Last year, the Trump administration attempted to delay the rule for two years. But this effort was rejected by several district court judges, who ruled that the administration did not follow proper procedures to suspend the implementation of an existing regulation. The administration appealed, but on March 8 announced it would drop its challenges in federal appeals courts the 4th and 9th Circuits.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted on – and passed nearly unanimously by a vote of 99-1 - the biennial Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which include a number of major provisions that benefit drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure and policy. The conference report for the bill, known as America's Water Infrastructure Act (S. 3021), was passed unanimously by the House on Sept. 13.

On Wednesday, June 20, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) closed on a WIFIA loan with the City of Omaha, NE, which is the second loan made through the program. EPA issued a $69.7 million loan to Omaha to help finance its Saddle Creek Retention Treatment Basin. Omaha expects to save up to $20 million by financing the project with a WIFIA loan and create 165 jobs.

A new report from Bluefield Research shows an increase in loan applications to SRF programs of 25 percent since last year.

A new report from the Brookings Institution provides a detailed and data-driven look at careers in the water sector, finding that while there are looming shortages and a need for diversity in the workforce, water jobs area tremendous economic opportunity for the American worker.

WEF joined with three other water associations to request an extension of time to file comments to the EPA’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Costs and Benefits in the Rulemaking Process (EPA-HQ-OA-2018-0107).

On June 13th, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed the S. 3042, the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. Commonly referred to as the Farm Bill, the bipartisan 5-year legislation encompasses a broad array of agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and forestry policy.