Some 52,000 community water systems and 21,400 not-for-profit non-community water systems across the US will require approximately $384.2 billion of infrastructure investment through 2030 in order to assure the provision of safe drinking water to 297 million Americans, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment: Fifth

The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) recently issued a joint brief that proposes new criteria for federal water mandates, as federal requirements to meet specific environmental standards have increased water bills for many utilties, businesses and consumers.

The U.S. Senate has passed a massive water program bill that included the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) for utilities. It now goes to the House for consideration. The measure was included in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes an array of politically popular Corps of Engineers water projects.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must meet a court-ordered deadline to issue regulations that clean up power plant water pollution, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled today. The decision turns back an attempt by the utility industry to avoid the financial and operational burdens of the regulations.

The White House on Tuesday issued its final plan for managing the nation’s oceans, outlining a strategy that aims to coordinate the work of more than two dozen agencies and reconcile competing interests including fishing, offshore energy exploration and recreational activities.

Air and water quality, national parks and surrounding communities, and clean energy development will be hard hit by across-the-board spending cuts in the federal budget that took effect today. President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders came out of a White House meeting this morning without resolution to the budget impasse, known in Washington as the sequester.

Another bureaucratic hurdle in the cleanup of the Animas River was broken down Wednesday, with a new interpretation of environmental policy from the Environmental Protection Agency. In a call with news media, U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., announced that the EPA would loosen restrictions on “good Samaritans” looking to clean up abandoned hard-rock mines throughout the West.

The EPA has recommended new recreational water quality criteria that will help protect peoples' health during visits to beaches and other waters.