Hirono Announces Historic Award of Over $31 Million in Clean Water Funding to Hawaii

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded more than $31 million in capitalization grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) to Hawaii through the State Revolving Funds (SRFs) program. This announcement marks the first significant distribution of water infrastructure funds as a result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“Ensuring that people have access to clean, safe drinking water while also protecting our environment from wastewater contamination is critical to healthy, thriving communities,” said Senator Hirono. “That’s why I’ve fought to protect Hawaii’s water sources and secure the funding necessary to protect and strengthen our state’s water infrastructure. Thanks to additional federal funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Hawaii is receiving more than $31 million to help prevent flooding, protect our waterways, and ensure the health and wellbeing of communities across our state.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law presents the largest-ever funding opportunity for investing in water infrastructure. Hawaii Department of Health, Environmental Health Administration, administers Hawaii’s Clean Water and Drinking Water SRF programs. These programs will provide a permanent and independent source of low-cost financing for a wide range of projects across the state. This includes funding water pollution control projects to protect groundwater and coastal water resources, and drinking water infrastructure projects to help achieve or maintain compliance with drinking water standards to protect public health and the environment.

The BIL allocates more than $50 billion to EPA toward repairing the nation’s essential water infrastructure, which helps communities access clean, safe and reliable drinking water, increase resilience, collect and treat wastewater to protect public health, clean up pollution, and safeguard vital waterways. Capitalization grants will continue to be awarded, on a state-by-state basis, over the course of the next four years.

EPA’s SRFs are part of President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to deliver at least 40% of the benefits from certain federal programs to underserved communities. Nearly half the funding available through the SRFs thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law must be grants or principal forgiveness loans that remove barriers to investing in essential water infrastructure in underserved communities across rural America and in urban centers.

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