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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	15-P-0032
December 5, 2014
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At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
We conducted this review to
determine how the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and states
demonstrate that completed
Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund (DWSRF) projects met
project and program goals and
contributed to improved
drinking water quality and
public health.
The 1996 Safe Drinking Water
Act Amendments, in part,
authorize the EPA to provide
funding for capitalization grants
to states to further public health
objectives and promote efficient
use of funds. The states use
these funds to support low
interest loans and other types
of assistance to public water
systems. The EPA conducts
annual reviews encompassing
certain aspects of the states'
programs.
This report addresses the
following EPA goals or
cross-agency strategies:
•	Protecting America's
waters.
•	Protecting human health
and the environment by
enforcing laws and
assuring compliance.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391
or visit www.epa.gov/oiq.
The full report is at:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2014/
20141205-15-P-0032.pdf
EPA Needs to Demonstrate Public Health Benefits
of Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Projects
The EPA needs to enforce
grant requirements for
collecting DWSRF project
information to demonstrate
the public health results of the
$11.37 billion it has invested
in drinking water
infrastructure since 2009.
What We Found
The EPA does not obtain all required DWSRF
project data from states, despite capitalization
grants that require states to input key project
information into EPA databases. The EPA
also does not always use annual reviews of
state DWSRF programs to assess project
outcomes. Without this information the EPA
cannot determine whether completed DWSRF
projects contributed to improved drinking
water quality and public health. In addition, the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010
(GPRA refers to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993) requires
all federal agencies to have long-term goals that are supported by interim
performance indicators. The EPA requires states to systematically provide
information that can be used to assess project results. However, not all states
report complete, required information in every instance. Our analysis shows that
systems that received DWSRF funding regain compliance, indicating public
health improvements. However, incomplete reporting affects the overall value of
our analysis of the DWSRF program. These incomplete data hamper the EPA's
ability to evaluate program effectiveness and public health outcomes.
As a result, the EPA is unable to demonstrate the public health results of its large
DWSRF agency expenditure, which represents about 10 percent of the agency's
annual budget. Further, the EPA cannot demonstrate the overall success of
DWSRF projects. The EPA is also missing an opportunity to capture potential
best practices of state programs and projects.
Recommendations and Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Water enforce grant
requirements that states input all necessary data in the project-level tracking
database and review data completeness as part of the EPA's annual review of
state performance. We also recommend that the EPA enhance coordination
between DWSRF and Public Water System Supervision programs and
periodically evaluate program results.
The agency agreed with our recommendations and provided corrective actions
with milestone dates. The recommendations are resolved with corrective actions
pending.

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