The costs of drinking water and wastewater have more than doubled in the US since 2000. In California, the average household paid around 45% more per month in 2015 than in 2007 for drinking water. Multiple factors have led to higher water rates, including greater operational costs due to aging infrastructure and climate adaptation. Water affordability disproportionately affects low-income households and communities of color. The inability to pay for water bills can lead to additional charges, water shutoffs, foreclosure, and family separation.

Affordability (or lack thereof) can be thought as the level of burden a bill imposes on a customer as a percentage of income, typically ranging between 3-4.5%.

Lessons from Oregon

Oregon experiences a large amount of rainfall every year. “Atmospheric Rivers” can cause massive amounts of flooding, but like in many states, stormwater infrastructure hasn’t received the level of investment required to meet the need. In recent years, environmental advocates are highly focused on the pressing issues of fire control and energy over stormwater. However, even though sustainable stormwater infrastructure isn’t always a central priority, it is still important to invest in. Water and climate justice advocates from across the state have worked to push their legislature to invest in water infrastructure and green infrastructure, and in these efforts have folded in opportunities for green stormwater infrastructure investment. One example of these efforts is House Bill 3016/3409, otherwise known as the Trees Act. 

The Trees Act (HB 3016/3409) was a 2023 piece of legislation that established the Community Green Infrastructure Fund and Grant Program. The fund was established in the State Treasury as “separate and distinct” from Oregon’s General Fund. The fund was started with an initial allocation of $6.5 million. Going forward, it requires ongoing appropriations from the OR legislature.   

The grant program funds green stormwater infrastructure projects as well as other forms of green infrastructure (e.g., projects that increase the availability of native plants, the “greening” planning efforts, and more). By investing in many kinds of green infrastructure, the Trees Act was a multifaceted piece of legislation that crossed issue boundaries between water and air quality, erosion control, community livability, energy savings, climate change mitigation, and many other issue areas. By taking this multifaceted approach, the Trees Act creates broad appeal and is better able to support communities with the issues they need to prioritize. 

Key Policy Language – Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Act

HB 3016/3409 names the purpose of community green infrastructure projects as “to provide direct social, environmental and economic benefits to communities across this state through green infrastructure.” It further lists the many benefits that those projects may include.  “The social, environmental and economic benefits of green infrastructure to communities include, but are not limited to: (a) Climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience; (b) Stormwater management; (c) Air temperature regulation; (d) Air quality benefits; (e) Noise abatement; (f) Energy savings; (g) Economic development opportunities; (h) Public or community health benefits; (i) Support for community food pathways through regenerative agriculture; (j) Water quality improvements, including temperature regulation; (k) Water conservation; (L) Erosion control; (m) Park and open space benefits; (n) Urban forest benefits; (o) Restoration of floodplain functions; (p) Restored or expanded wetlands and riparian areas; (q) Habitat improvements; (r) Aquifer recharge that does not include an extractive or consumptive use of the aquifer; (s) Stream flow augmentation; (t) Carbon sequestration; (u) Community livability; (v) Local jobs; and (w) The use of plants and food in maintaining social and environmental identity and lifeways.” Having such a wide reaching, diverse, yet clearly defined set of aims for green infrastructure helps this bill create broad appeal and is flexible to meet any of the potential green infrastructure needs of a given community. That flexibility helped pass this bill and will help it better serve its target communities.  

HB 3016/3409 also outlines specific requirements to ensure the dollars from the Community Green Infrastructure Grant Program are equitably distributed to communities. It requires that any application must demonstrate that a project “(B) Provides social, environmental or economic benefits to an environmental justice community; (C) Except for projects developed by an Indian tribe, has been or will be developed in coordination with an environmental justice community that will benefit from the completion of the project.”  

The act also specifies language that builds equity and accountability into the implementation of these projects as well by having specific requirements around advisory committees for the community green infrastructure investment. These requirements specify that the environmental justice communities these investments are meant to serve must also be included in the advisory committee while also creating stipulations to ensure professional expertise around green infrastructure is also represented.  

“ (1) The Department of Land Conservation and Development may appoint an Advisory Committee on Community Green Infrastructure Investment to provide consultation on the implementation of [The Community Green Infrastructure Grant Program]. A committee appointed under this section shall consist of at least one representative of each of the following interests: (a) City governments; (b) County governments; (c) Special districts, irrigation districts or transportation districts; (d) School districts; (e) Environmental justice communities; (f) The Oregon nursery industry; (g) Educational institutes that train professionals in horticulture, urban forestry or other green infrastructure professions; (h) State or local parks and recreation agencies; (i) Individuals with expertise in designing, constructing and maintaining green infrastructure; (j) Individuals with expertise in the public or community health benefits of green infrastructure; (k) Individuals with expertise in green workforce development or social enterprise models; and (l) Individuals with expertise in green infrastructure projects in tribal, rural, remote or coastal communities. (2)(a) The department shall invite each of the federally recognized Indian tribes in Oregon to participate in the advisory committee. (b) Invitation to participate in the advisory committee is not in lieu of other forms of tribal consultation, outreach or engagement that the department may engage in(…)”   

Advocacy and Implementation in Oregon

The Trees Act was originally its own piece of legislation in HB 3016. It was later folded into HB 3409, which was a much larger resilience package. There wasn’t enough investment in green infrastructure on its own to sway the Oregon legislature, but as a part of a larger resilience package, the Trees Act was able to speak more to other critical priorities that Oregon was navigating including addressing the housing crisis. This melding together of legislation was key to getting the Trees Act passed. After the legislation was passed, a rulemaking committee of stakeholders was formed to determine project priorities and selection that wrapped up at the end of the summer of 2024. The fund was then opened for project proposals, and project funding is anticipated to begin early 2025. 

Lessons from Texas

As a result of the climate crisis, many communities in Texas are facing the devastating impacts of severe flooding, drought, and water infrastructure disruptions. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey hammered the Gulf Coast, killing 68 people and causing $125 billion in damage, cementing it as one of the most devastating storms in U.S. history. The disproportionate impact on low-income disadvantaged communities was harrowing. In the wake of Harvey, it was clear Texas needed significant investment in stormwater infrastructure to protect Texans from future storms. This led to the passing of Senate Bills 7 and 8 by the Texas Senate in 2019, creating the Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF) and requiring the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to create a statewide flood plan by September 1, 2024. The bills’ passage was followed by House Joint Resolution 4, a proposed a constitutional amendment that was approved by voters in 2019 which established the FIF in the state treasury outside the General Revenue Fund and provided it constitutional appropriation authority. 

Establishing the Flood Infrastructure Fund outside the General Revenue Fund helped protect the funding and made it a more effective structure for funding flooding infrastructure in several ways. This structure ensures that flood infrastructure funds cannot easily be diverted for other uses, making the funding stream more stable and allowing for better long-term planning and implementation of funds. It also may allow for more flexible management and disbursement of funds.  

Key Policy Language – Flood Infrastructure Fund

Defining Infrastructure Investment Parameters

Direct language from Texas Senate Bill 7 (SB 7) defines its target projects broadly, and there is some language that specifically calls out its intention to invest in nonstructural nature-based solutions to flood control. 

The Flood Infrastructure Fund has a broad definition of a “flood project”. The definitions section of SB 7 defines “flood project” as “a drainage, flood mitigation, or flood control project including: planning and designing activities; work to obtain regulatory approval to provide nonstructural and structural mitigation and drainage and construction and implementation of nonstructural projects including projects that use nature-based features to protect, mitigate, or reduce flood risk.”  

It later goes on to specifically mention “the creation of the infrastructure fund and the administration of the fund by the board will encourage the development of nonstructural and structural flood mitigation in the state.” 

Setting Aside Investment in Low-Income Communities

The bill also creates stipulations to ensure investments are made in lower-income communities: “the board shall adopt rules establishing criteria of eligibility for flood control planning money that considers: (1) the relative need of the political subdivision for the money, giving greater importance to a county that has a median household income that is not greater than 85% of the median state household income.” 

Advocacy and Implementation Efforts

The FIF offers financial assistance in the form of loans and grants for flood control, mitigation, and drainage projects. The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is responsible for administering these funds to eligible political entities. FIF is also authorized to issue revenue bonds. Types of assistance can cover a wide range of projects from traditional flood control to green infrastructure. The application, eligibility and prioritization criteria were governed by the Flood Intended Use Plan (FIUP) until the State Flood Plan was adopted in 2024. 

Throughout the process of the creation and adoption of the State Flood Plan, advocates came together to encourage TWDB to build in more emphasis on nature-based solutions and green infrastructure, as well as to ensure the equitable distribution of resources to address environmental justice concerns. They submitted detailed comments to outline their recommendations. 

Organizations and coalitions like Texas Living Waters also pushed TWDB to incorporate the Social Vulnerability Index into the FIUP and the State Flood Plan, modeled after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Index, in order to prioritize projects for disadvantaged communities.  

With the release of the State Flood Plan, advocates also celebrated the Plan’s recognition of the benefits of natural features like wetlands, floodplains, and other green infrastructure. Nature-based solutions are explicitly named as a part of the ranking methodology in project prioritization in the plan. As the State Flood Plan is implemented and infrastructure dollars are rolled out, there will be ample room to push policymakers and educate the public on the importance of green infrastructure solutions. In this current iteration, the State Flood Plan shows a lot of promise in creating sustainable flood infrastructure solutions for Texas.