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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Suellen Keiner or Bill Shields
February 13, 2003
State water quality programs nationwide
face an annual shortfall of $700 million to $1 billion, a
National Academy of Public Administration Panel has found.
A joint state-EPA effort developed this estimate by collecting
information on how much states currently spend and what resources
they need to manage water quality programs according to federal
standards. The Academy Panel confirmed the reliability of
this estimate after conducting a detailed review of the tools
and methodologies used for the joint project.
“State environmental agencies, EPA,
Congress, and state legislatures can use these estimates of
the national shortfall without hesitation. However, two key
data elements-the costs of state employees and costs of new
or expanding water quality programs, such as controls on non-point
sources-may be underestimated,” said Dr. John Kirlin,
Chair of the Academy Panel that issued Understanding What
States Need to Protect Water Quality. Kirlin is an Academy
Fellow and Senior Scholar at Indiana University’s Center
for Urban Policy and Environmental Affairs.
In its report, the Panel commends states
and EPA for collaborating on a comprehensive workload model
that captures the states’ costs for managing water programs.
The Panel finds that this model provides a sound basis for
projecting future state resource needs. In addition, states
can use the model as a tool for identifying and sharing effective,
cost-efficient practices for protecting water quality.
The Panel urges EPA and the states to continue
working together to routinely collect information on state
workloads and resource needs and to build a culture of shared
learning. The Panel also suggests ways to refine data collection
tools, workload models, and estimation methods to improve
the reliability of future estimates. Taken together, these
changes can improve projections of national resource needs
and produce better estimates of actual water program costs
in individual states.
The Panel further recommends that EPA and the states invest
in obtaining better information about the conditions of water
bodies, sources of water pollution, and on-the-ground results
of water programs. With improved data about water quality,
state workloads, and resource needs, EPA and states can develop
joint strategies for adequately funding programs nationwide.
This information also will help demonstrate to Congress, state
legislatures, businesses, and the public where more funding
or reforms are needed for better water quality protection.
In addition to Dr. Kirlin, the Academy
Panel members were Jesus Garza, President and Chief Executive
Officer of the Breckenridge and Seaton Hospitals, and former
Deputy General Manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority
and City Manager of Austin, Texas; and Robert C. Shinn, Jr.,
President of S2 Concepts and former Commissioner of New Jersey’s
Department of Environmental Protection.
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