News Briefs: Environmental Groups Hope Alabama Spends Relief Funds on Water Infrastructure

State and local governments in Alabama are expected to receive about $4 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act recently signed into law by President Joe Biden. The expectation among environmental advocates in the state is that the money will largely be used to address stormwater overflows, fix broken sewer lines, expand water treatment plants and other water infrastructure improvements.It’s well documented how badly parts of Alabama need sewer and water upgrades, particularly in the state’s Black Belt region, which one United Nations poverty official in 2017 called the most dire sewage disposal crisis he’d seen in a developed country.Proposed Legislation