Federal Water Resources Development Act includes $100 million increase to help with Jackson water infrastructure

Senator Wicker championed the Mississippi priorities in the bill that will help the capital city along with other communities across the state.

On Friday, Mississippi U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R) announced that the Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA) of 2022 includes a $100 million increase to the City of Jackson’s Section 219 environmental infrastructure authorization. This funding can be used for drinking water, wastewater, and resiliency activities associated with that infrastructure.

The WRDA is biennial legislation which authorizes flood control, navigation, and ecosystem restoration projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The conferenced version of the 2022 WRDA was included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, which is headed to the President’s desk to be signed into law after it passed both the Senate and the House.

Senator Wicker said he hopes the President will sign this bill into law without delay.

“Recent crises have shown the urgent need to improve our drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure, and this legislation includes provisions that would have a measurable impact,” Wicker said.

Additional policies that would benefit Mississippi include increasing authorized funding for the Section 592 Mississippi Environmental Infrastructure account from $200 million to $300 million and expediting an Army Corps of Engineers study to construct a future flood control project in DeSoto County.

More policies included in WRDA 2022 are:

• Expanding eligible uses for these Section 592 account dollars to include stormwater management, drainage systems, and water quality enhancement.
• Authorizing Section 219 funding for environmental infrastructure in five Mississippi communities. Those funds include $13.6 million for Clinton, $10 million for Meridian, $10 million for Oxford, $10 million for Rankin County, and $10 million for Madison County.
• Expanding the pilot program for controlling Asian Carp to the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.
• Reminding the Army Corps that addressing shoreline sloughing and erosion is an eligible Operations and Maintenance activity for Okatibbee Lake.
• Removing the non-federal cost share for a Lower Mississippi River study to identify changes and new features that could help reduce the risk of flooding and decrease reliance upon the Bonnet Carré Spillway.
• Establishing a pilot program to allow localities and private entities to apply for funding assistance for conservation projects in the Lower Mississippi River Basin.

According to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, WRDA 2022 authorizes 94 new Corps feasibility studies and authorizes or modifies 21 projects for construction.

Additionally, WRDA 2022 includes provisions directing the Corps to expedite the completion of several ongoing studies and projects that are critical to coastal and inland flood risk mitigation, navigation, and ecosystem restoration, among other purposes.