USEPA's small systems coordinator summarizes key elements of the agency's report to Congress, emphasizing the issues of viability, low‐cost technology, and financing. Small systems issues have been a prominent feature of deliberations on the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) since its initial formulation. In 1993 the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) prepared a report to Congress that contained a detailed discussion of the SDWA compliance challenges faced by small water systems. This article focuses on three of the major small system issues identified in the report to Congress– viability, lower‐cost technology, and financing—and discusses how USEPA's reauthorization recommendations would address these issues.

Using stakeholder comments, USEPA is creating guidance and information to smooth implementation of SDWA capacity development provisions. The capacity development provisions of the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act offer a flexible framework within which states and water systems can work together to ensure that systems acquire and maintain the technical, financial, and managerial capacity needed to consistently achieve the public health protection objectives of the act. Capacity development is related to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) in two important ways: states may set aside funds from their DWSRF allotments to develop and implement capacity development programs, and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is required to withhold DWSRF funds from states that fail to implement the capacity development provisions. USEPA's implementation of the capacity development provisions is being guided by an unprecedented process of stakeholder consultation and involvement.

The DWSRF provides a potentially important means of mitigating the affordability problem. The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) was established under the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to provide financial assistance to water systems that cannot afford to make improvements that would allow them to comply with regulatory standards. Disadvantaged communities are also targeted for aid under the DWSRF. But to implement the provisions of the SDWA, states must adopt affordability criteria for use in their DWSRF programs. “Affordability” is the term used to describe the ability of a water system and its customers to support the cost of compliance. Although a considerable amount of research has been conducted on affordability, no simple solution has emerged. This article describes a framework for understanding the multidimensional issue of affordability.

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AWWA's recently released report “Buried No Longer: Confronting America's Water Infrastructure Challenge” estimates that an investment of at least $1 trillion will be required through 2035 in order to restore existing water system pipe networks as they reach the end of their useful lives and to expand them to serve a growing population while maintaining current levels of water service. Growth, much of which is projected to be concentrated in the South and West, accounts for nearly half of this investment need.