Drinking Water: Spending Constraints Could Affect States' Ability to Meet Increasing Program Requirements

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the states' roles in implementing the Safe Drinking Water Act, focusing on: (1) how the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) budget requests for state program implementation compared to the amounts that are authorized and estimated to be needed; (2) how much the states have spent since the passage of the 1996 amendments to implement their drinking water programs and how their expenditures compare with estimated needs; (3) what effects federal funding levels have had, and could have in the future, on the states' ability to implement their programs; and (4) what existing practices have the potential to help the states implement their drinking water programs more effectively and efficiently.