The Rundown
- EPA’s new biofuels mandate, the highest yet, is likely to put more pressure on soil and waters.
- Without saying climate change, the USFS revises the definition of a ski area that operates on federal lands to allow for more non-ski activities.
- GAO testifies on ways to reduce federal exposure to the financial risk of flooding.
- EPA loan program will support a project to bring Lake Michigan water to Illinois communities with unsustainable groundwater use.
- An Interior Department watchdog’s audit finds that three of four federally-funded projects to place solar panels above irrigation canals are not proceeding due to the administration’s priorities.
- Water bills introduced or passed in Congress include data center water use, non-flushable wipes, and a Glen Canyon Dam modification.
- EPA’s internal watchdog assesses wildfire and inland flood risk for federal Superfund sites.
- EPA asks for public comment on water utility financial assessments.
And lastly, senators from opposite sides of the political spectrum ask for data center energy reporting requirements.
“Comprehensive, annual energy-use disclosures by data centers and other large loads will inform federal, state, and local policymaking and ensure technology companies operating these large loads comply with their commitments to pay for their own electricity and infrastructure upgrades.” – Excerpt from a letter to the Energy Information Administration from Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). The senators asked the EIA to require data centers to report their energy use and make that data publicly available.
In context: Data Center Energy Demand Is Putting Pressure on U.S. Water Supplies.
By the Numbers
$610 Million: Loan announced for a project to bring Lake Michigan water to six communities in northern Illinois that rely on a shrinking aquifer. The loan to the Grand Prairie Water Commission is from the EPA’s WIFIA program, which provides low-interest and flexible financing for large-scale water infrastructure. The loan will cover about half the project’s cost for pipelines, pumping stations, and related systems.
In context: Chicago Suburbs, Running Out of Water, Will Tap Lake Michigan
News Briefs
More Crops for Cars
To assist corn and soybean farmers, EPA pushed its biofuel mandate to a record level, focusing its increases on biodiesel and renewable diesel, which could amplify downstream harms to environmental and human health, especially in the farming-intensive Mississippi River basin.
The agency’s regulatory analysis notes that the mandate will have “impacts to soil and water quality from increased erosion, nutrient, and pesticide runoff due to agricultural conversion.” But it does not attempt to quantify them, except to say they would be “small percentage increases.”
Expansion of corn acreage could lead to more irrigation, the analysis states. “With increased production of corn for ethanol production, corn growth has expanded further into locations where irrigation is needed more frequently.”
It goes on: “Water scarcity and land conversion are two of the most prominent potential consequences of a robust RFS biofuels program.”
The most thorough federal assessment of the consequences of biofuels on land, water, and air is the EPA’s third report to Congress, from February 2025. It noted that the biofuels mandate was an “additional strain on already strained ecosystems.”
Water Bills in Congress
Several bills were introduced and even a few passed.
- Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bill to require data centers to report their water and energy use. Planned data centers would have to estimate their expected consumption for the first five years of operation.
- The American Water Stewardship Act passed the House by a large 378-32 margin. The bill reauthorizes the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and other regional watershed restoration programs. It also reauthorizes a grant program for monitoring coastal and Great Lakes waters for contaminants that would affect recreation.
- The WIPPES Act passed the Senate by unanimous consent. The bill requires sanitary wipes to be labeled as “Do Not Flush.” Wipes, as any water utility worker will tell you, clog pipes.
- Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT) introduced a bill to aid fisheries management downstream of Glen Canyon Dam. The bill would authorize a feasibility study for a “selective withdrawal system,” a modification that allows for water at different levels in a reservoir to be blended and released. It’s for achieving environmental restoration goals that require certain water temperatures. A companion bill was already introduced in the Senate.
- A bipartisan bill in the Senate would make administrative changes to a watershed protection program to simplify and expand its use. The program in question is the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations.
If It Looks Like a Ski Slope But Has No Snow?
The U.S. Forest Service changed the definition of a ski area on lands it manages to allow for more non-ski activities.
The agency removed a definition from 2013 that used ski revenue as a determining factor for whether a ski area is properly permitted to operate on federal land.
The change is due to finances. Ski areas are getting less snow, as the agency acknowledges in its rulemaking. That hurts their ability to stay in business. The agency does not mention that a warming climate is reducing snowfall.
Instead of revenue, the agency says other factors should be considered. Acreage, investment, visitation numbers, and even appearances – “a general comparison of whether the permitted area looks and feels primarily like a ski area.”
Studies and Reports
Solar over Canals: Over
Some $25 million from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act was directed toward putting solar panels over irrigation canals in the western states. Four projects signed agreements. One, for the Gila River Indian Community, in Arizona, was completed in January 2025.
An audit from the Interior Department’s internal watchdog found that the three other projects have been abandoned or cancelled by the department due to Trump administration priorities that do not include solar.
“In January 2026, a U.S. Department of the Interior official notified us that all remaining IRA-funded canal improvement projects have been cancelled as a result of the Department of Interior’s review.”
Flood Financial Risk
The federal government could reduce its exposure to the financial risks of flooding, Alicia Puente Cackley of the Government Accountability Office, told a House Financial Services committee.
One way to do this is by targeting homes that have flooded repeatedly but the flood risk has not been addressed. The GAO found that these “unmitigated” properties are 2.5 percent of federal flood policies but 48 percent of the insurance claims. The number of unmitigated properties with multiple flood-insurance claims is increasing, up 30 percent since 2018.
Mitigation typically means buying out the home and demolishing it.
Climate Hazards for Superfund Sites
The EPA’s internal watchdog released a pair of reports that highlight climate hazards to federal Superfund sites.
The reports are limited in scope, an overview of the issue. One identifies wildfire risk. The report found that one in five of the 155 federal sites has a potential wildfire risk. Most of these are in the western states.
The other report is on inland flooding. Of the 147 federal sites with enough data for analysis, about one-third have potential flooding risks. Most of these sites are in the Atlantic coast states. The worry is that hazardous chemicals are picked up and deposited downstream.
On the Radar
EPA Seeks Comment on Water Utility Financial Assessment
When the EPA requires communities to fix failing sewer and stormwater systems, it assesses how to do so in a timely manner without adding too great a financial burden on low-income communities.
The agency is seeking public comment on how it might update guidance that was last revised in 2024. It has four areas of interest.
- Whether poverty metrics accurately reflect economic impacts on rural and small communities and low-income households;
- The effect cost of living on a community and its financial capacity;
- Appropriate compliance timelines;
- How to account for costs when identifying a community’s current financial burden.
Comments are due May 26. Submit them via www.regulations.gov using docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2026-1090.
Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
