WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Thad Cochran, R-Miss., today voted for final congressional approval of water infrastructure legislation authorizing federal resources for improving waterways, flood control, and other projects in Mississippi. The bill, approved Thursday by the House of Representatives, passed the Senate by a vote of 78-21. It will now go to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

“This bill includes many regional projects important to Mississippi,” Wicker said. “It works to strengthen our nation’s infrastructure by starting at the local level. Improved flood-control measures and expanded dredging to enhance ports would benefit our state’s economy and the safety of our citizens.”

“Mississippi is well served by this national legislation.  The infrastructure development authorized in this bill will strengthen flood control and improve our state’s ports and waterways as economic engines,” Cochran said.

Additionally, the “Water Resources Development Act of 2016” (S.2848 or WRDA) – included in the “Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act” – authorizes U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects across the country that are focused on navigational improvements, ecosystem restoration, and clean water infrastructure.

Wicker serves on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, which authored WRDA. Cochran, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, serves on the subcommittee that funds the Army Corps of Engineers and programs authorized in WRDA.

The Mississippi Senators focused on provisions to expand the ability of the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies to work with state and local officials to improve flood control, inland ports, wastewater infrastructure, conservation, and coastal resilience.

Wicker and Cochran worked to include the following Mississippi-related projects in the bill: 

• Directing the Army Corps to expedite its review of the draft “Integrated Feasibility and Environmental Impact Statement, Pearl River Watershed, Rankin and Hinds Counties MS,” a locally developed flood damage reduction plan designed to provide a permanent solution to Pearl River flooding, which continues to pose an imminent threat to the Jackson Metropolitan Area;

• Dredging shallow draft ports located on the Mississippi River, such as Natchez, Rosedale, Greenville, Claiborne County, and Vicksburg;

• Authorizing the Army Corps to conduct regional assessments of coastal vulnerabilities and opportunities to increase ocean and coastal ecosystem resilience, which could include shoreline and tidal marsh restoration;

• Increasing the funding authorization for needed environmental infrastructure projects, such as an ongoing regional wastewater improvement project in DeSoto County;

• Creating a Gulf Coast Oyster Bed Recovery Plan to address long-term damage to oyster beds caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and floods in 2011 and 2016; 

• Providing technical assistance for small communities who often lack the resources to comply with and complete the necessary applications to access federal wastewater funding programs.