Yesterday the Trump administration stated that it planned to cut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 65 percent under the DOGE initiative of Elon Musk. This was a clarification from Trump’s statement yesterday about an EPA staffing cut of 65 percent. Simple calculations indicate that such a budget cut would decimate funding that is channeled directly to states, including the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, the main source of federal funding for local water infrastructure.

In 2024, the EPA budget totaled approximately $10 billion, but nearly 60 percent of this was dedicated to the Superfund trust funds ($1.4 billion) and grants to states and indigenous communities ($4.5 billion) – including $2.8 billion to the State Revolving Fund clean and safe water programs. Therefore, it would be impossible to make a 65 percent cut to the overall EPA budget without including massive cuts to these critical, state-based environmental cleanup and clean water programs. Administrative/operating costs accounted for only 40 percent of the total EPA budget in 2024.

In response, Mary Grant, Water Program Director at Food & Water Watch issued the following statement:

“The notion of gutting the EPA budget — or staffing — by 65 percent is as implausible as it is unconscionable, but we must take Trump’s assertion seriously. Such a cut would have a devastating impact on the critical clean water and environmental programs that communities rely on each year to fix broken drinking water systems, stop sewage spills and clean up contaminated sites. Even a cut half the size of Trump’s shocking assertion would have immediate and stark repercussions on the health and welfare of people from coast to coast.”