President Bush named Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R-UT) to replace Christie Whitman as head of U.S. EPA. “I selected Mike Leavitt because he is a trusted friend, a capable executive, and a man who understands the obligations of environmental stewardship,” Bush affirmed. “With the Senate's approval, Mike Leavitt will lead an agency with 18,000 dedicated employees in offices all across our country.” Serving his third term as Utah governor, Leavitt is currently the longest sitting governor in office. Before he assumes the office of EPA administrator, a Cabinet-level position, Senate confirmation is required.

Covering a 20-year period from 2000 to 2019, the EPA study Gap Analysis provides estimates of the funding gap for both capital and operations and maintenance (O&M). Although the report discusses methods for calculating the capital and O&M gaps, it does not address policy implications of the results. For clean water, estimates of investment needs versus spending used to determine the gaps cover all of the approximately 16,000 publicly owned treatment works (POTWs). The drinking water analysis incorporates the approximately 54,000 community water systems and the 21,400 not-for-profit noncommunity water systems in the 50 states, U.S. territories, and tribal areas.

In Gap Analysis, the projected funding gap over a 20-year period is presented in two ways: a “no revenue growth” scenario that compares the projected need to current spending levels; and, a “revenue growth” scenario that assumes spending will increase by 3 percent per year. This annual increase represents a real rate of growth of 3 percent over and above the rate of inflation — a projection consistent with long-term growth estimates of the economy. The “no revenue growth” scenario is useful for understanding the extent to which spending might need to increase relative to the status quo.

The analysis estimates a total capital payments gap of $122 billion, or about $6 billion per year, for clean water. In the case of “revenue growth,” the capital gap is projected at $21 billion, or about $1 billion per year, for clean water and $45 billion, or about $2 billion per year, for drinking water.