The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a major water funding bill.
The Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation bill, which passed 360-61, is a compromise measure that the House and Senate introduced Monday and wraps in water resources and water waste bills, as well as significant tribal and natural resources legislation, and other important measures to improve the nation’s infrastructure. The bill includes $170 million to help Flint., Mich., whose residents have been unable to drink their water without a filter for more than a year because the water is contaminated by lead.
The Senate and House passed water resources bills earlier this year to fund numerous water projects in the country, and Monday’s bill is the result of ongoing discussions to work out differences between the two chambers’ bills.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where a drought provision has sparked a feud in between California lawmakers Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.
Feinstein is backing the provision, which would allow water to flow from dams into the Joaquin Valley, which has been water-starved in part because of EPA regulations protecting the delta smelt, an endangered fish.
Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, who is retiring, opposes the bill because it undermines the Endangered Species Act.
