Order Code RS22285
September 29, 2005
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Hurricane-Damaged Drinking Water and
Wastewater Facilities:
Impacts, Needs, and Response
Claudia Copeland
Specialist in Resources and Environmental Policy
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
Throughout the Gulf Coast region, Hurricane Katrina’s high winds and water
damaged a wide range of public service facilities, including drinking water supply and
treatment and sewage treatment plants, and restoring those facilities is part of the overall
cleanup and restoration process. This report describes information that has been
gathered about impacts of the August 29 hurricane on drinking water and wastewater
treatment facilities and on ongoing efforts to assess damages and needs to repair and
reconstruct damaged systems. Facility restorations may take many months, and costs
of needed repairs are unknown for now. To meet those needs, affected communities are
likely to rely heavily on federal assistance in emergency appropriations acts, as well as
traditional water infrastructure programs, principally those administered by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The
Senate has passed a bill intended to streamline delivery of funds through existing EPA
programs to repair storm-damaged sewage treatment and drinking water plants (S.
1709). Also, legislation has been introduced that would provide hurricane assistance to
Louisiana, including $5 billion for water infrastructure projects (S. 1765/S. 1766). This
report will be updated as events warrant.
Water Infrastructure Facilities Affected by Hurricane Katrina
Damages at many water infrastructure facilities as a result of Hurricane Katrina
included loss of electric power to pump, process, and treat raw water supply and
wastewater. Initially following the storm, some plants were able to operate temporarily
on backup generators, so long as fuel was available. In addition, flooding disabled
services in a number of locations, including New Orleans. Overall, a large number of
systems were affected. For example, within a few days after the hurricane, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that more than 1,220 drinking water
systems (many of them very small, in terms of customers served) and more than 200
wastewater treatment facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama had been affected.
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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As electric power was restored, many of the affected systems have been able to
restore needed services (especially facilities in Alabama, which was not in the center of
the storm’s path). Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, EPA reported that about 30% of
the affected drinking water and 40% of the affected wastewater facilities were again
operating. However, many of the inoperable drinking water and wastewater plants serve
large numbers of customers. In Biloxi, for example, officials were unable to re-pressurize
the drinking water system because of broken and inaccessible water mains and valves.
One-third of the sewage treatment facilities in Harrison County, Mississippi (serving
Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach, and Pass Christian) were destroyed or very severely
damaged. Similarly, drinking water and sewage service for more than a million customers
in New Orleans (discussed below) was severely disrupted.
EPA reported that by September 27, four weeks after Hurricane Katrina, more than
85% of drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities in the affected region were
operational.1 However, as of that date, 111 drinking water systems (30 in Louisiana and
81 in Mississippi) were operating on a boil water notice pending test results to ensure that
the water has been restored to standards safe for public consumption, and 62 others (25
in Louisiana and 37 in Mississippi) were either inoperable or their status was unknown.
Throughout the affected region, 46 sewage treatment plants (35 in Louisiana, four in
Mississippi, and eight in Alabama) were not operational or were reported to be
experiencing operational difficulties. Staff of EPA’s Water Program are preparing to
assess all drinking water and wastewater plants in the region, including more than 900
facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi that are located in areas that were unaffected by
Hurricane Katrina.
As of September 28, four days after Hurricane Rita made landfall in Texas and
Louisiana, EPA had not reported damages to water infrastructure systems in the area
affected by that storm.
For damaged facilities, steps involved in restoring service include drying out and
cleaning engines and pumps; testing and repairing waterlogged electrical systems; testing
for toxic chemicals and harmful bacteria that may have infiltrated pipes and plants;
restoring pressure (drinking water distribution systems); activating disinfection units;
restoring bacteria needed to treat wastes (wastewater plants); and cleaning, repairing, and
flushing distribution and sewer lines.
Impacts of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans’s water system were particularly
severe. Some parts of the city did not experience interrupted service, while other parts
where water was available were advised that it should only be used for flushing toilets and
fighting fires. But in the central portion of the city, in addition to electric power
impairments, extensive damage occurred to the water infrastructure from flooding of
treatment plants, drinking water distribution lines, collector and interceptor sewers, and
the water system’s powerplant.2 Even after restoration of electricity, cleanup and recovery
1 Detailed information, updated often, is available on EPA’s Web site at:
[http://www.epa.gov/katrina/activities.html].
2 Much of the New Orleans water infrastructure was built more than 75 years ago. Even before
the hurricane, the Sewerage and Water Board, which is responsible for providing drinking water,
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at flooded water and sewage treatment plants is likely to take considerable time. The
largest of the city’s two drinking water plants, located where the worst flooding took
place, was completely underwater for nearly two weeks. It was repaired sufficiently to
provide flow (i.e., for fire fighting), but may not be providing potable water for weeks,
officials say.
For flooded areas, sewage treatment often is the last thing back on line, because
plants are at the lowest point of the city and thus under the deepest water. New Orleans’s
two wastewater treatment plants were damaged: the larger facility, which serves 1.2
million customers, was flooded; the smaller facility, located on the west bank of the
Mississippi River, experienced extensive wind damage. The city’s public works officials
reportedly believe that much of the sewer system has probably been damaged, and cracks
will need to be fixed by tearing up roads (although road repairs already may be required,
as part of the overall cleanup effort), a potentially lengthy repair process.
Damage and Needs Assessments
Under authority of the National Response Plan,3 EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers staff are conducting assessments of water infrastructure systems, assisting state
and local government personnel to evaluate damages. Efforts to assess facilities continue
throughout the region to determine their operating status, including needs to repair or
rebuild.
EPA cautions that evaluations are ongoing, and the status of many facilities is
unclear (especially small systems), even a month after Hurricane Katrina. Facilities
determined to be operational may still require repair or reconstruction. Facility
restorations, full or partial, may take many months, and costs of needed repairs are
unknown. On September 23, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) issued
a very preliminary estimate that $2.25 billion will be needed to repair or replace drinking
water infrastructure at public water systems that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The estimated total is comprised of $650 million for 885 systems serving fewer than
10,000 persons and mostly using groundwater for their supply, plus $1.6 billion for 47
systems serving more than 10,000 persons. The estimates were presented with significant
caveats, however, because of the limited information available on the extent of actual
damage. The incomplete information necessitated AWWA’s analysts having to make a
2 (...continued)
sewage treatment, and drainage services to more than one million customers, had a $1 billion
capital improvement program to address long-term maintenance and repair needs, including
compliance with a 1998 court-ordered sewer system consent decree
3 Section 502(6) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296, codified predominantly
at 6 U.S.C. §§101-557 ) authorized the Secretary of Homeland Security to consolidate federal
government emergency response plans into a single, coordinated National Response Plan (NRP),
the framework to coordinate activities of the federal government with those of state, local, and
tribal governments and the private sector. It is organized by 15 Emergency Support Functions,
such as public works and engineering, public health, and oil and hazardous materials response,
each with a designated coordinator, primary agencies, and support agencies. The text of the NRP
is available at: [http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf].

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large number of assumptions about the severity of damage and repair and replacement
needs.4
Estimates of needs for reconstructing sewage treatment facilities throughout the
region have not been issued. Early in September, Louisiana officials reportedly developed
some very preliminary assessments of funding needs and said in a draft report that the
state will need $35 billion to restore the wastewater treatment infrastructure, based on a
broad assumption that 50% of the existing treatment plants and 20% of the existing
sewage collection systems will need to be rebuilt.5
Meeting Needs for Repair and Reconstruction
As previously noted, assessments of needed water infrastructure repairs and
associated cost estimates are incomplete for now, but could be substantial for systems that
were directly affected. How those communities will pay for repairs represents a challenge
to public officials at all levels of government. The 109th Congress has begun to consider
how to assist their activities.
At the same time, repairing storm-damaged facilities is the most recent, but not the
only, funding needed by water infrastructure systems in the Gulf Coast and elsewhere.
Throughout the United States, wastewater and drinking water utilities face significant
investment needs to meet the treatment and performance requirements of the Clean Water
Act (CWA) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). According to the most recent
estimates by EPA and states, the nation’s public water and wastewater treatment systems
need more than $460 billion over the next 20 years to construct and upgrade facilities in
order to comply with those laws and to provide safe and healthy water.6 The federal
government is unlikely to provide 100% of that amount, and policymakers already are
debating how to meet those existing needs, which of course do not reflect additional costs
to reconstruct hurricane-damaged structures.
Over the years, Congress has authorized a number of programs to assist local
communities in addressing water supply, drinking water, and wastewater treatment
problems. These programs generally are intended to aid communities in constructing
facilities to comply with federal drinking water regulations and clean water rules to
prevent the discharge of harmful levels of sewage wastes into surface waters. They have
different types of financing mechanisms (some provide grants, others authorize loans),
4 American Water Works Association. “Restoring Public Water Supply Systems in the Aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina: A Preliminary Cost Estimate.” Sept. 23, 2005.
5 Daily Environment Report. “Louisiana Estimates Environmental Cleanup for Katrina Damage
Could Cost $61.5 Billion.” No. 178, Sept. 15, 2005, p. A-13.
6 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Clean Watersheds Needs Survey 2000 Report to
Congress. August 2003. EPA 832-03-001; Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and
Assessment, Third Report to Congress. June 2005. EPA 816-R-04-001. For additional
information, see CRS Report RL31116, Water Infrastructure Needs and Investment: Review and
Analysis of Key Issues.

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various administering agencies, and other differences, such as eligible community size.7
These programs comprise the traditional sources of federal assistance that communities
use to meet their water infrastructure needs.
Congress also has authorized a number of programs that can provide emergency
assistance to repair and restore drinking water, wastewater, and related water
infrastructure systems and facilities. These include programs administered by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), EPA, the Corps of Engineers, and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.8 Responding to the 2005 hurricane disasters, the 109th
Congress has already provided more than $62 billion in emergency assistance in P.L. 109-
61 and P.L. 109-62. Approximately $7.8 billion of that amount is targeted for
infrastructure repair, but it is not limited to drinking water and wastewater facilities.9
Congress additionally may consider other legislation to specifically aid in repairing
and rebuilding storm-damaged structures. For example, S. 1765/S. 1766, the Louisiana
Katrina Reconstruction Act, seeks $1.035 billion in appropriations for EPA to provide
infrastructure assistance in Louisiana, plus $4 billion directly to the state of Louisiana for
repair, reconstruction, and improvement of storm-affected wastewater and drinking water
infrastructure systems. If no additional targeted appropriations are provided for facilities
in the Gulf Coast states, as proposed in that legislation, the affected communities are
likely to rely heavily on combined resources of federal emergency appropriations and
funding under the traditional water infrastructure aid programs, especially those
administered nationally by the Department of Agriculture (loan and grant programs for
water and waste disposal projects in communities of less than 10,000 persons) and by
EPA. Under EPA’s programs, authorized in the CWA and the SDWA, federal grants of
appropriated funds are used to capitalize state revolving fund (SRF) programs. States, in
turn, make loans from the SRFs to local communities for needed drinking water and
wastewater projects.
Other legislation introduced in response to Hurricane Katrina includes changes to
EPA-administered funding programs, but not additional appropriations. On September
27, the Senate passed S. 1709, the Gulf Coast Emergency Water Infrastructure Assistance
Act. It would modify the revolving loan provisions of the Clean Water Act to provide
favorable treatment (such as forgiveness of loan principal and extended repayment) for
sewage treatment repair or rebuilding projects in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
The Safe Drinking Water Act already includes similar provisions that are not restricted
to emergency conditions. S. 1709 would permit those states for two years to provide
assistance for wastewater and drinking water projects not included on a state’s Intended
Use Plan, since many of the systems affected by Hurricane Katrina are believed to not be
included in the plans which generally are required before a project can be funded under
either the CWA or SDWA. It also would authorize EPA to test private drinking water
wells affected by Hurricane Katrina for contamination. Privately owned wells that
7 For additional information, see CRS Report RL30478, Federally Supported Water Supply and
Wastewater Treatment Programs.
8 For a review of federal emergency assistance programs, see CRS Report RS22248, Federal
Disaster and Emergency Assistance for Water Infrastructure Facilities and Supplies.
9 U.S. Congress. Senate Budget Committee. “Informed Budgeteer, No. 5.” Sept. 12, 2005.

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provide drinking water are regulated by states, not EPA, and in most states, owners of
private wells are responsible for testing.
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and subsequently after Hurricane
Rita, much attention has been focused on assistance for individual victims and
management of the overall response effort. As that effort proceeds and assessments of
impacts and needs are refined, Congress may consider other policy options and issues,
including with regard to water infrastructure systems.

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