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Lapse in Appropriations

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Water Infrastructure Resiliency

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Description

Drinking water and wastewater utilities have experienced disruption or failure following natural disasters, threatening public health. For example, disasters in Mississippi in 2022 and North Carolina in 2024 left residents without potable water for weeks.

This report examines, among other things, (1) financial assistance that EPA, FEMA, and USDA provided to improve drinking water and wastewater infrastructure; (2) the extent to which these agencies addressed barriers vulnerable communities face accessing and participating in selected programs; and (3) how these agencies assessed the extent to which assistance reached vulnerable communities.