Included on today's hearing agenda is S. 1699, the Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 1999, which I introduced yesterday. This legislation will reauthorize the highly successful Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) Program for five years at a total level of $ 15 billion.
As my colleagues know, the Clean Water SRF Program is an effective and immensely popular source of funding for State and local governments to help finance wastewater collection and treatment projects. Since the creation of the SRF in 1987, total federal capitalization grants have been nearly doubled by non-federal funding sources, including state contributions, leveraged bonds, and principal and interest payments. Communities of all sizes are participating in the program, and approximately 7,000 projects nationwide have been approved to date.
In my state of Ohio, our needs for public water system improvements greatly exceed the current SRF appropriations levels. According to our latest state figures, more than $7 billion of improvements have been identified as necessary. In recent years, Ohio cities and villages are spending more on maintaining and operating their systems, which is an indication their systems are aging and will soon need to be replaced. For example, the City of Columbus recently requested SRF assistance amounting to $725 million over the next five years.
Even though the SRF program has been a success, an EPA study conducted a few years ago indicated that our nation faced a $139 billion 20-year need for new wastewater expenditures. This past April, that figure was revised upward to nearly $200 billion, in order to more accurately account for expected sanitary sewer needs. Further, independent analysis puts infrastructure needs closer to $300 billion, when anticipated replacement costs are considered.
Unfortunately, the Clean Water SRF authorization lapsed in 1994. With each passing year without an authorization, Congress sends an implicit message that wastewater collection and treatment is not a national priority.
This legislation, S. 1699, will authorize a total of $15 billion over the next five years for the Clean Water SRF. This authorization will help plug a portion of our nation's enormous infrastructure funding gap, and serve to protect our environment, enhance public health, create jobs and increase numerous tax bases across the country.
I believe that Senator Smith's legislation will help cities like Akron meet their infrastructure needs by codifying the EPA's 1994 Combined Sewer Overflow Policy. That policy allows CSO control programs to be developed in the most cost-effective, flexible and site-specific manner possible. In addition, the bill establishes a 55% federal-share grant program to help communities plan, design or construct a facility to deal with combined stormwater and sewer overflows.
Mr. Chairman, we are long past due for an overhaul of our wastewater infrastructure needs here in America. As necessary as these projects are, they are also expensive to build, and in many communities throughout the country, prohibitively so. I believe S. 1699, and Senator Smith's bill, take a clear and positive step towards re-focusing our attention on re-building a vital component of our modern society. Each bill will give our communities the freedom and the financing to focus their attention where it is needed.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing us to move forward with these two bills today.