Report: Data Reliability Issues Impede the EPA’s Ability to Ensure Its Allotment of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Funding for Lead Service Line Replacements Reflects Needs

Report # 24-N-0039, May 15, 2024

Why We Did This Report

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General initiated an evaluation of the EPA’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, allotments for lead service line replacements. While conducting work on that evaluation, which remains ongoing, we decided to issue this memorandum to alert the Agency of the risk of using unreliable data to allot IIJA funds for lead service line replacements.
 

Summary of Findings

As we evaluated the execution of the EPA’s 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment, or DWINSA, we saw indications that a lack of internal controls may have caused the EPA to base its fiscal year 2023 allotment of $3 billion in IIJA funds for lead service line replacements on inaccurate data. As such, there is a risk that the EPA did not allot the fiscal year 2023 IIJA funds, and will not allot future IIJA funds, according to states’ lead-service-line-replacement needs.

Report Materials

• Full Report - 24-P-0039 (pdf) (1.37 KB)
• Press Release - 24-N-0039 (pdf) (1.37 KB)
• Agency Response - 24-N-0039 (pdf) (1.37 KB)
• The EPA OIG Questions Reliability of Data Used to Allot IIJA Funding for Lead Service Line Replacements
• Evaluation of the EPA’s 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment and the Resulting Fiscal Year 2023 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Allocation for Lead Service Line Replacements