Essays on Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act

Abstract

This dissertation empirically examines three issues related to CWA and SDWA: 1) Financial Assistance and Environmental Compliance; 2) Financial Assistance Priorities from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund; and 3) Drinking Water Compliance during COVID-19 Pandemic. Using the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System compliance and the Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) data for wastewater treatment plants in nine states between 2010 and 2018, chapter 2 examines a) the effect of non-compliance on the distribution and size of awarded CWSRF loans, and b) the effects of the CWSRF provision and award size on post-funding compliance. Funded facilities are found to have poorer compliance records than the unfunded ones and that funded facilities decrease violations within two years after receiving financial support. On average, a $50 million CWSRF loan decreases violations by one count within two post-funding years. Adequate investment in wastewater infrastructure remains a critical challenge for environmental protection in the US. In Chapter 3, I examine states’ prioritization of investment in wastewater treatment facilities using the Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) allocation and wastewater treatment plant data from 2010 to 2019 from nine states. Discrepancies and consistencies between regulators’ stated and revealed funding priorities are documented based on the records of intended and observed allocation of CWSRF support. I find that states intend to and provide CWSRF assistance to wastewater treatment plants with poorer Clean Water Act compliance records in previous years. I also find that larger facilities are prioritized in intended as well as observed allocation of assistance. Although impairment of discharge receiving streams is not a significant factor in assistance distribution plans, the observed allocation of funds is positively correlated with receiving stream’s impairment. Poorer communities are prioritized in intended as well as observed assistance allocation. However, income-based prioritization is weaker in states with greater corruption. According to the USEPA, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected water systems’ operations due to supply chain disruptions, water workforce staffing shortages, financial effects, and operational difficulties. Such challenges for drinking water systems functioning need to be analyzed to ensure current and future public health safety. In Chapter 4, I empirically examine SDWA violations to identify environmental regulatory risks emerging from COVID-19 pandemic. Using annual data from 2011 to 2020 for all 50 states, I observe that counties with more COVID cases experience decreased facility level SDWA health-based violations relative to the counties with fewer COVID cases. Also, the reported number