Wednesday, October 17, 2012

GAO Report Released: Rural Water Infrastructure: Additional Coordination Can Help Avoid Potentially Duplicative Application Requirements

Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report, titled Rural Water Infrastructure: Additional Coordination Can Help Avoid Potentially Duplicative Application Requirements GAO-13-111 (Oct. 16, 2012). The 62-page report, available here, discusses how
[m]any rural communities with populations of 10,000 or less face challenges in financing the costs of replacing or upgrading aging and obsolete drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. EPA and USDA oversee the three largest federally funded drinking water and wastewater funding programs for these communities. In response to Pub. L. No. 111-139, which directs GAO to identify and report on duplicative goals or activities in the federal government, this report examines the (1) potential for fragmentation, overlap, and duplication between EPA and USDA drinking water and wastewater infrastructure programs and (2) extent to which these agencies coordinate at the federal and state level to fund community water infrastructure projects. GAO analyzed relevant laws and regulations and program data and documents. GAO also visited five states based on high rural funding needs and geographic location (Colorado, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota) to meet with federal, state, and community officials and visit projects. GAO recommends that EPA and USDA complete guidelines to help states develop uniform preliminary engineering reports, develop guidelines to help states develop uniform environmental analyses, and reemphasize the importance of statelevel coordination. EPA neither agreed nor disagreed with GAO's first two recommendations and concurred with the third. USDA neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommendations.

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