The COVID-19 recovery plan adopted in the US earlier this year is already injecting billions of federal dollars into the municipal water sector. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law in March 2021, allocated $350 billion in aid to state, local, and tribal governments to mitigate the economic impacts of the pandemic. Of this, $195.3 billion was allocated to state governments, and $130.3 billion directly to individual municipalities and counties in allotments that are proportional to their population. The funds can be used for one of four purposes: to provide financial assistance to households and local businesses; to replace lost municipal revenue; to provide premium payments to essential workers; and to make investments in water, sewer or broadband infrastructure.
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