In testimony leading up to a brief Congressional recess on April 11, representatives of the American Water Works Association and the National Utility Contractors Association called upon the House of Representatives to honor the Senate's $5.2 billion proposal for 2004 Drinking Water (supply, distribution) and Clean Water (wastewater conveyance and treatment) state revolving loan funds. AWWA's Michael Hooker (Onondaga County Water Authority, Syracuse, N.Y.) urged the House Appropriations Committee to fund the Clean Water SRF at $2 billion, as NUCA's Bill Bowman (William Bowman Associates, West Berlin, N.J.) called for $3.2 billion to cover the Clean Water SRF.

Despite the funding level the Senate put forward in March, a streamlined total of $2.2 billion for both SRFs was reached in House-Senate conference. The $5.2 billion is more closely aligned with levels the Environmental Protection Agency has determined from recent needs assessment surveys for water supply and wastewater infrastructure investment. A combined SRF package is also consistent with multi-year, umbrella legislation, WATER-21, that AWWA, NUCA and other industry and government groups continue to seek as a companion to the TEA-21 and AIR-21 transportation funding packages.