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<Heading as="h2" id="introduction" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
542 federal cases, 450 plants, and almost no fines
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Since the start of fiscal year 2020, EPA has brought 542 formal civil enforcement cases naming 450 publicly owned wastewater treatment plants in the United States. That is about 4% of the 11,774 plants in the Klarifi directory. Only 96 of those cases carried a penalty, and the median penalty was $3,000. The orders themselves are a different matter: EPA recorded compliance actions worth $747 million across 358 of the cases, the fixes, upgrades and programmes a plant must deliver to close the case.
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This analysis reads EPA's civil enforcement records for every plant in the directory and looks at where the cases are, what they are about, which plants get them, how long they run, and what they mean for the people who sell into those plants. Every case cited here links to its report on EPA's ECHO site, and every plant to its Klarifi profile, where the enforcement history now sits next to the permit and compliance data.
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Key findings
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<ListItem mb={2}>Formal actions against wastewater plants nearly doubled between fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2024, from 51 to 109, and have stayed above 80 a year since.</ListItem>
<ListItem mb={2}>Fines are rare and small: 96 of 542 cases carried a penalty, $1.7 million in total, median $3,000. The value of required compliance actions in the same period is $747 million.</ListItem>
<ListItem mb={2}>EPA Region 6, covering Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas, brought 242 of the 542 cases, 45% of the national total. Texas alone accounts for 146.</ListItem>
<ListItem mb={2}>Four in five cases are NPDES permit violations. The rest include drinking-water rules at utilities that run both systems, discharges without a permit, chlorine risk-management plans and sewage sludge.</ListItem>
<ListItem mb={2}>Size matters: 12% of plants above 10 MGD have had a case since 2020, against 3% of plants under 1 MGD. Sixty-seven plants have had two or more cases in the period; one has had seven.</ListItem>
<ListItem mb={2}>A case runs a median 17 months from the first order to closure, and one in ten runs for more than ten years, which is the consent-decree tail.</ListItem>
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<Heading as="h2" id="cases-by-year" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={10} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Actions climbed to a 2024 peak and stayed high
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Federal enforcement against wastewater plants was quiet in the first pandemic years, 58 cases in fiscal 2020 and 51 in 2021, then climbed for three years to a peak of 109 cases at 104 plants in fiscal 2024. Fiscal 2025 and 2026 came in at 82 and 80, still well above the 2017 to 2021 range. The mix changed too: judicial cases, the ones referred to the Department of Justice, have all but disappeared from this set, with none recorded since fiscal 2022. Enforcement against wastewater plants is now almost entirely administrative, run by the regional offices under section 309 of the Clean Water Act.
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<Thead>
<Tr><Th>Fiscal year</Th><Th isNumeric>Formal cases</Th><Th isNumeric>Plants named</Th><Th isNumeric>Cases with a penalty</Th><Th isNumeric>Penalties assessed</Th><Th isNumeric>Compliance actions required</Th></Tr>
</Thead>
<Tbody>
<Tr><Td>2017</Td><Td isNumeric>46</Td><Td isNumeric>53</Td><Td isNumeric>11</Td><Td isNumeric>$809,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$60.3M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2018</Td><Td isNumeric>67</Td><Td isNumeric>60</Td><Td isNumeric>12</Td><Td isNumeric>$497,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$109.2M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2019</Td><Td isNumeric>67</Td><Td isNumeric>65</Td><Td isNumeric>10</Td><Td isNumeric>$130,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$49.1M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2020</Td><Td isNumeric>58</Td><Td isNumeric>56</Td><Td isNumeric>5</Td><Td isNumeric>$35,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$68.0M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2021</Td><Td isNumeric>51</Td><Td isNumeric>50</Td><Td isNumeric>13</Td><Td isNumeric>$130,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$130.6M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2022</Td><Td isNumeric>74</Td><Td isNumeric>71</Td><Td isNumeric>17</Td><Td isNumeric>$859,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$141.7M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2023</Td><Td isNumeric>88</Td><Td isNumeric>80</Td><Td isNumeric>9</Td><Td isNumeric>$335,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$98.3M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2024</Td><Td isNumeric>109</Td><Td isNumeric>104</Td><Td isNumeric>22</Td><Td isNumeric>$88,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$111.1M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2025</Td><Td isNumeric>82</Td><Td isNumeric>80</Td><Td isNumeric>23</Td><Td isNumeric>$219,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$59.0M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>2026 (to 16 Sep)</Td><Td isNumeric>80</Td><Td isNumeric>76</Td><Td isNumeric>7</Td><Td isNumeric>$27,000</Td><Td isNumeric>$138.5M</Td></Tr>
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Formal EPA civil enforcement cases naming plants in the Klarifi directory, by EPA fiscal year (1 October to 30 September). Penalties are amounts assessed or agreed; compliance actions are EPA's recorded value of the fixes a case requires. Source: EPA ICIS-FE&amp;C via ECHO.
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<Heading as="h2" id="fines-versus-fixes" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={10} mb={4} color="gray.800">
The fines are small; the orders are not
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The largest penalty in this set is $400,000, in the 2022 judicial case against the <a href="/facilities/idaho/driggs-wwtp-2200043951">City of Driggs, Idaho</a>, which also required $25 million of compliance actions. The next largest are $260,000 against the <a href="/facilities/wisconsin/green-bay-metropolitan-sewerage-district-3604684812">Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District</a> in Wisconsin, a Clean Air Act new-source case at a wastewater utility, and $142,000 and $115,000 in two separate cases against the <a href="/facilities/new-mexico/city-of-rio-rancho-wastewater-facilities-3602815122">City of Rio Rancho, New Mexico</a>, in 2023 and 2025. Across all 542 cases the penalties add up to $1.7 million. Two thirds of the cases carry no penalty at all: 204 ended in a final order without one, 82 were unilateral orders, and 146 are recent orders still open.
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The compliance-action values tell the real story. EPA records the estimated cost of the corrective work an order requires, and 358 of the 542 cases carry one, $747 million in total, with every case counted once even when it names several plants. The largest single figure is the $100 million judicial referral over the <a href="/facilities/arizona/chinle-wwtf-3601497390">Chinle wastewater treatment facility</a> and two other Navajo Tribal Utility Authority plants in Arizona, filed in 2021. The five largest since 2020:
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<Thead>
<Tr><Th>Plant</Th><Th>Case</Th><Th>Fiscal year</Th><Th>Type</Th><Th isNumeric>Compliance actions</Th></Tr>
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<Tbody>
<Tr><Td><a href="/facilities/arizona/chinle-wwtf-3601497390">Chinle WWTF, Chinle, AZ</a></Td><Td><a href="https://echo.epa.gov/enforcement-case-report?id=09-2021-2003" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">09-2021-2003</a></Td><Td>2021</Td><Td>Judicial referral</Td><Td isNumeric>$100.0M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td><a href="/facilities/new-hampshire/waterville-valley-wastewater-treatment-plant-3602969909">Waterville Valley WWTP, NH</a></Td><Td><a href="https://echo.epa.gov/enforcement-case-report?id=01-2026-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">01-2026-2022</a></Td><Td>2026</Td><Td>Administrative order</Td><Td isNumeric>$90.0M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td><a href="/facilities/ohio/city-of-vermilion-wpcf-3603352927">City of Vermilion WPCF, OH</a></Td><Td><a href="https://echo.epa.gov/enforcement-case-report?id=05-2022-0306" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">05-2022-0306</a></Td><Td>2022</Td><Td>Administrative order on consent</Td><Td isNumeric>$72.0M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td><a href="/facilities/pennsylvania/corry-city-stp-3600024595">Corry City STP, PA</a></Td><Td><a href="https://echo.epa.gov/enforcement-case-report?id=03-2025-0011" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">03-2025-0011</a></Td><Td>2025</Td><Td>Administrative order</Td><Td isNumeric>$40.0M</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>New Bedford, MA</Td><Td><a href="https://echo.epa.gov/enforcement-case-report?id=01-2020-2027" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">01-2020-2027</a></Td><Td>2020</Td><Td>Administrative order</Td><Td isNumeric>$35.7M</Td></Tr>
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Compliance-action values as recorded by EPA for cases since fiscal 2020. Each case links to its ECHO report.
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<Heading as="h2" id="where-the-cases-are" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={10} mb={4} color="gray.800">
One EPA region brings nearly half the cases
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Enforcement is regional in practice. EPA Region 6, the Dallas office that covers Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas, brought 242 of the 542 cases, 45% of the total, naming 179 plants. Region 5 in Chicago is a distant second with 75, followed by Region 7 in Kansas City with 57 and Region 2 in New York with 52. By state, Texas leads with 146 cases, then New Mexico with 60, which is remarkable for a state with a small directory, New York with 45, Ohio with 30 and Louisiana with 23. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Idaho each have between 15 and 17.
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<Thead>
<Tr><Th>EPA region</Th><Th>States</Th><Th isNumeric>Cases since FY2020</Th><Th isNumeric>Plants named</Th><Th isNumeric>Share of cases</Th></Tr>
</Thead>
<Tbody>
<Tr><Td>Region 6</Td><Td>TX, NM, LA, OK, AR</Td><Td isNumeric>242</Td><Td isNumeric>179</Td><Td isNumeric>45%</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>Region 5</Td><Td>IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI</Td><Td isNumeric>75</Td><Td isNumeric>68</Td><Td isNumeric>14%</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>Region 7</Td><Td>IA, KS, MO, NE</Td><Td isNumeric>57</Td><Td isNumeric>55</Td><Td isNumeric>11%</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>Region 2</Td><Td>NJ, NY, PR</Td><Td isNumeric>52</Td><Td isNumeric>47</Td><Td isNumeric>10%</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>Region 3</Td><Td>DE, MD, PA, VA, WV, DC</Td><Td isNumeric>32</Td><Td isNumeric>26</Td><Td isNumeric>6%</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>Region 10</Td><Td>AK, ID, OR, WA</Td><Td isNumeric>29</Td><Td isNumeric>25</Td><Td isNumeric>5%</Td></Tr>
<Tr><Td>Regions 1, 4, 8, 9</Td><Td>New England, Southeast, Mountain, Pacific Southwest</Td><Td isNumeric>55</Td><Td isNumeric>51</Td><Td isNumeric>10%</Td></Tr>
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Region from the case number prefix. State pages with the full lists: <a href="/facilities/texas/enforcement">Texas</a>, <a href="/facilities/new-mexico/enforcement">New Mexico</a>, <a href="/facilities/new-york/enforcement">New York</a>, <a href="/facilities/ohio/enforcement">Ohio</a>, <a href="/facilities/louisiana/enforcement">Louisiana</a>, and every other state from the <a href="/facilities/enforcement">national enforcement page</a>.
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<Heading as="h2" id="what-the-cases-are-about" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={10} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Permit violations, and a few surprises
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Four in five cases, 427 of 542, are NPDES permit violations: effluent limits exceeded, monitoring or reporting missed, or a permit condition ignored. The remainder is more varied than the headline suggests. Thirty-one cases cite the national drinking-water regulations, because many of the utilities in the directory run the water system as well as the sewer system and EPA files the case against the utility. Twenty-three are discharges without a permit at all. Eighteen are risk-management-plan cases under the Clean Air Act, which at a wastewater plant almost always means chlorine gas on site, and fifteen cite pretreatment and toxic effluent standards, the rules that govern what industries may send to the plant. Eleven concern sewage sludge disposal and five are recorded as intentional acts.
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Larger plants, repeat plants, and how long a case runs
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Enforcement finds the plants that discharge the most. Of the 246 directory plants above 10 MGD of average flow, 29 have had a formal case since fiscal 2020, one in eight. Among the 1,571 plants between 1 and 10 MGD it is one in ten. Among the 7,083 plants under 1 MGD it is one in thirty-five. The pattern is partly exposure, since large plants report more parameters and more often, and partly priority, since EPA's national enforcement initiatives have targeted sewer overflows and nutrient loads at larger systems.
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Sixty-seven plants have had two or more formal cases since 2020, eighteen have had three or more, and one plant has accumulated seven. Rio Rancho's two penalty cases two years apart are typical of how a repeat looks in the record: the first order sets a schedule, the second follows when the schedule slips. Of the 395 cases opened and closed in the period, the median ran 17 months from the first order or complaint to closure. One in ten ran for more than ten years, which is the consent-decree tail, where a court-ordered capital programme keeps the case open until the last project is built.
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<Heading as="h2" id="what-it-means" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={10} mb={4} color="gray.800">
What an order means for the plant and for vendors
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For a utility, a formal EPA case is rarely about the fine. It is a schedule: a corrective action plan, interim limits, construction milestones and reporting, with the cost of the work recorded by EPA in the compliance-action value. That is why the 358 cases with such a value add up to $747 million while the penalties add up to $1.7 million. For a company that sells treatment equipment, controls, engineering or operations services, a plant under an order is a plant with a funded, dated problem, which is the same signal as a permit renewal but with a deadline attached by a regulator.
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Every plant in the Klarifi directory with a federal enforcement record now shows it on its profile: the count of formal actions, penalties, the compliance-action value, EPA inspections and the latest case with the opening of EPA's own description. The <a href="/facilities/enforcement">national enforcement page</a> ranks the states and lists the 10 largest Clean Water Act penalties on record, and each state page lists recent actions and the largest penalties. The full case histories, with every milestone and violation type, are available with a free Klarifi account, alongside the treatment technology and the decision-maker contacts at each plant.
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<Heading as="h2" id="method" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={10} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Sources and method
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The data is EPA's Integrated Compliance Information System for federal enforcement and compliance (ICIS-FE&amp;C), the same records ECHO publishes case by case, loaded into Klarifi's database on 16 September 2026 and joined to the 11,774 publicly owned treatment works in the Klarifi directory. A case is counted once, by EPA fiscal year, even when it names several plants, and so are its penalty and its compliance-action value. Penalties are the amounts assessed or agreed; for cases after 2000 they come from the case penalty records as federal and state or local shares added together, not from the case header, which is empty for modern cases. Compliance-action values are EPA's recorded estimates. Correction, 20 September 2026: the first version of this analysis added a case's compliance-action value once for every plant the case names, which counted the $100 million Navajo Tribal Utility Authority case three times and put the total at $950 million. The total is $747 million; the fiscal 2017 to 2021 rows of the table and the Texas and Ohio case counts were corrected at the same time. The analysis covers the plants in the directory, not every treatment works in the country: EPA assessed at least two larger penalties in the period against plants that are not in it, $550,259 against Lynnwood, Washington, in fiscal 2024 and $500,000 against Sandy, Oregon, in fiscal 2021. State-led enforcement, which is the majority of all wastewater enforcement in the United States, is not in this data set; neither are informal federal actions, of which 21 are on record for these plants in the period. EPA's free-text case summaries are quoted on the site only as short attributed excerpts, and never for cases against named individuals.
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542 federal enforcement cases have named 450 US wastewater treatment plants since fiscal 2020. Only 96 carried a fine, median $3,000, but the orders require $747 million in fixes. Where the cases are, what they are about, and what an order means for the plant and the vendors who serve it.

EPA enforcement against wastewater plants, 2020–2026

542 federal cases, 450 plants, and almost no fines

Key findings

Actions climbed to a 2024 peak and stayed high

The fines are small; the orders are not

One EPA region brings nearly half the cases

Permit violations, and a few surprises

Larger plants, repeat plants, and how long a case runs

What an order means for the plant and for vendors

Sources and method

EPA enforcement against wastewater plants, 2020–2026: small fines, $750 million in required fixes


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The US EPA is considering the balance between low-cost electricity and water resource protection. This could have major consequences as discharge from power plants is one of the biggest sources of wastewater in the USA, Klarifi data shows.
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<Heading as="h2" id="regulatory-backdrop" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
The regulatory pendulum swings
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In March 2024, the EPA issued its <a href="https://www.epa.gov/eg/steam-electric-power-generating-effluent-guidelines-2024-final-rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2024 Final Rule</a> to strengthen certain discharge limitations in the Steam Electric Power Generating industry (fossil fuel power plants). The final rule was estimated to reduce pollutants discharged through wastewater from coal-fired power plants by approximately 660 million pounds per year.
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The pendulum is now swinging in the other direction with the EPA's recent announcement of the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-launches-biggest-deregulatory-action-us-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history</a>, which includes a "Reconsideration of limitations, guidelines and standards (ELG) for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry to ensure low-cost electricity while protecting water resources".
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<Heading as="h2" id="impact" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
EPA's reconsideration impact
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<Text fontSize="md" mb={4}>
EPA's reconsideration could impact over 900 fossil fuel power plants discharging wastewater into U.S. surface waters, with potentially major implications for water quality and public health – see the map below.
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  <Box position="relative" width="100%" height="auto">
    <Image
      src="/analyses/assets/deregulation-of-power-plant-wasterwater-what-is-at-stake/map-of-944-fossil-fuel-power-plants-discharging-wastewater-to-US-surface-waters.webp"
      alt="Map of 944 fossil fuel power plants discharging wastewater to U.S. surface waters"
      width={1920}
      height={1080}
      priority
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  <Text fontSize="sm" color="gray.600" mt={2} textAlign="center">
    Figure 1: 969 fossil fuel power plants with direct wastewater discharge.
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<Heading as="h2" id="fossil-share-discharge" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Fossil fuel power plants account for 31% of total non-hydro discharge
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Klarifi's wastewater data platform provides insights into the plants' effluent, which is subject to limits on pH, suspended solids, oil & grease, nutrients, heavy metals, and more. Crucially, fossil fuel power plants account for 31% of the total daily discharge from US facilities (disregarding hydroelectric power plants), so the deregulation is affecting a very significant wastewater stream and could have major consequences for receiving waters.
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    <Image
      src="/analyses/assets/deregulation-of-power-plant-wasterwater-what-is-at-stake/daily-point-source-discharge-by-industry.webp"
      alt="Daily point-source discharge by industry (MGD) excluding hydro"
      width={1920}
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    Figure 2: Total daily point source discharge from US facilities, by industry (MGD), excluding hydroelectric power plants, only facilities submitting reporting on daily flow.
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<Heading as="h2" id="state-level-impact" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Texas is the state most affected by fossil power plant wastewater
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Unsuprisingly, energy powerhouse Texas is the state with the largest daily flow, followed by New Jersey, Indiana, Florida and New York – see the chart below for the 10 states with largest total daily wastewater flow from fossil fuel power plants.
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    <Image
      src="/analyses/assets/deregulation-of-power-plant-wasterwater-what-is-at-stake/top-ten-states-by-fossil-power-plant-wastewater-flow.webp"
      alt="Top ten states by fossil power-plant wastewater flow"
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    Figure 3: Ten states with the highest total daily flow from fossil-fuel power plants.
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<Heading as="h2" id="conclusion" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Key takeaways
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As the EPA scales back the 2024 Steam Electric rule, power utilities could potentially defer wastewater treatment investments—but downstream water-quality burdens may grow.
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With fossil plants releasing nearly a third of point source wastewater, even modest regulatory relief could translate into substantial pollutant loads.
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Klarifi will continue tracking permit revisions, compliance reports, and capital-project plans so stakeholders can quantify risks and opportunities in near real-time.
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Exploring the potential impacts of the EPA's proposed rollback of effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs) for fossil-fuel power plants and what it could mean for U.S. water quality.

The regulatory pendulum swings

EPA's reconsideration impact

Fossil fuel power plants account for 31% of total non-hydro discharge

Texas is the state most affected by fossil power plant wastewater

Key takeaways

Deregulation of powerplant wastewater: what's at stake?


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<Heading as="h2" id="introduction" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Michigan cities prioritize wastewater and sewer infrastructure with over $3.5 Billion in planned investments
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<Text fontSize="md" mb={4}>
An increasing number of cities across Michigan are now publishing Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs), 
enhancing transparency and long-term infrastructure planning. This article presents a comprehensive analysis
of water and sewer-related capital improvement projects planned to begin in 2025 or later. 
Drawing on data from 120 Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) and adopted municipal budgets, 
the analysis covers 2,628 individual projects representing a total planned investment of $3,518,245,978 across 103 cities in Michigan in
the years to come. The objective is to assess the scale, geographic distribution, and projected timelines of these critical infrastructure investments, 
offering insights into how cities are addressing essential water and sewer system upgrades.
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<Heading as="h2" id="key-findings" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Key findings
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- *Significant investments*: Approximately $3.52 billion is allocated across 2,628 identified water, wastewater and sewer projects in 103 Michigan cities.

- *Dominant spending hub*: Kalamazoo shows exceptionally high planned spending at ~$895 million, significantly overshadowing other cities. Ann Arbor follows with ~$503 million.

- *Near-term budget allocation*: Spending is heavily concentrated in the near future, with 2027 projected to have the highest investment (~$422 million), followed by 2026 (~$419 million) and 2028 (~$278 million).

- *Project size distribution*: While the average project budget is ~$1.4 million, the median is much lower ($300,000), indicating most projects are relatively small. However, large projects significantly impact total spending such as the KWRP sustainable residual biosolids project. 

<Heading as="h2" id="spending-by-city" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Infrastructure investments varies widely across Michigan cities
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Capital investment in waste and sewer infrastructure varies considerably across Michigan cities. Kalamazoo leads by a substantial margin, with a total projected budget of $895 million. 
This is dominated by a few large-scale, high-budget projects such as the extension of the water system in sections of both Richland Township and Ross Township in response to PFAS contamination in some areas of the local groundwater. Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, and Saginaw also rank among the top cities by projected spending, though their totals remain significantly lower than Kalamazoo's.
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<Box my={6}>
  <Box position="relative" width="100%" height="auto">
    <Image 
      src="/analyses/assets/michigan-cip-wastewater-analysis/top-ten-michigan-cities-by-total-wastewater-project-spending.png" 
      alt="Top-ten-michigan-cities-by-total-wastewater-project-spending"
      width={1920}
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  <Text fontSize="sm" color="gray.600" mt={2} textAlign="center">Figure 1: Top 10 Michigan Cities by Total Wastewater Project Spending (Millions $)</Text>
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<Heading as="h2" id="spending-over-time" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Near-term focus dominates planned infrastructure projects
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Planned spending on wastewater and sewer infrastructure is heavily concentrated in the earlier years of the forecast period. Investment levels remain high through fiscal years 2026 and 2027, after which projected budgets decline. This pattern indicates a near-term focus on advancing critical infrastructure improvements. As additional Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) are released, it is expected that future spending will increasingly target projects scheduled to begin in and beyond 2026. Klarifi continues to closely monitor CIP publications to support early planning and informed decision-making.
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    <Image 
      src="/analyses/assets/michigan-cip-wastewater-analysis/total-planned-projects-spending-in-michigan-by-year.png" 
      alt="total-planned-projects-spending-in-michigan-by-year"
      width={1920}
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  <Text fontSize="sm" color="gray.600" textAlign="center">Figure 2: Total planned projects spending in Michigan by year (Millions $)</Text>
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<Heading as="h2" id="spending-by-project-type" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Spending by project type
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Across Michigan cities, capital improvement investments reveal a strong emphasis on core utility infrastructure, 
with pump related projects commanding a big share at over $157 million in planned spending. 
This substantial spending highlights the foundational role pumps play in water and wastewater systems. 
PFAS-related projects follow with nearly $90 million,
reflecting growing urgency around emerging contaminants and water safety. 
However, this is primarily driven by four major projects planned across Kalamazoo, 
Grand Rapids, and Prescott, all of which are expected to commence in 2025.
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  <Box position="relative" width="100%" height="auto">
    <Image 
      src="/analyses/assets/michigan-cip-wastewater-analysis/selected-planned-project-spending-across-six-categories.png" 
      alt="selected-planned-project-spending-across-six-categories"
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  <Text fontSize="sm" color="gray.600" mt={2} textAlign="center">Figure 3: Selected planned project spending across 6 categories (Millions $)</Text>
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UV disinfection and SCADA systems received $16 million and $9 million, respectively, 
signaling efforts to modernize treatment technologies and enhance operational control. 
Meanwhile, blower and lagoon projects, though smaller in scale with $4.4 million and $3.3 million, 
point to targeted upgrades in treatment processes and support for rural systems. 
Overall, the distribution suggests a dual focus on modernization and environmental compliance, while continuing to invest in essential infrastructure.
</Text>

<Heading as="h2" id="project-budgets" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Small projects dominate in number, but big projects drive the dollars
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While the total spending figures are large, the distribution of individual project budgets reveals that the majority of initiatives are smaller in scale. The median project budget is only $300,000, and 75% of all projects are budgeted at $1 million or less. However, the presence of a smaller number of very large projects (up to $142 million) significantly skews the average budget upwards and contributes heavily to the total spending.
<Box my={6}>
  <Box position="relative" width="100%" height="auto">
    <Image 
      src="/analyses/assets/michigan-cip-wastewater-analysis/nearly-three-quarters-of-projects-are-small-scale.png" 
      alt="nearly-three-quarters-of-projects-are-small-scale"
      width={1920}
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  <Text fontSize="sm" color="gray.600" mt={2} textAlign="center">Figure 4: Nearly three-quarters of projects are small scale, with almost half under $250K</Text>
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</Text>

<Heading as="h2" id="how-to-find-projects" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
How to find details about individual projects using Klarifi's platform
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  <Box as="span" display={{ base: 'block', md: 'none' }}>
    Klarifi collects, organizes, and makes Capital Improvement Projects easily searchable at the line-item level. Visit our platform to explore these insights in detail.
  </Box>
  <Box as="span" display={{ base: 'none', md: 'block' }}>
    Klarifi collects, organizes, and makes Capital Improvement Projects easily searchable at the line-item level. Explore the walkthrough below and experience the difference for yourself.
  </Box>
</Text>

<Box display={{ base: 'none', md: 'block' }}>
  <WalkthroughGuide
    steps={[
      {
        image: '/guides/city-budgets/klarifi-city-budgets-step-one.webp',
        description: "Let's start by looking for upcoming projects in Michigan",
        hotspot: { x: 644, y: 183 },
        descriptionPosition: 'bottom',
      },
      {
        image: '/guides/city-budgets/klarifi-city-budgets-step-two.webp',
        description: "Search for 'expansion' projects in Michigan",
        hotspot: { x: 230, y: 185 },
        descriptionPosition: 'bottom',
      },
      {
        image: '/guides/city-budgets/klarifi-city-budgets-step-three.webp',
        description: 'Include project descriptions in the text search',
        hotspot: { x: 274, y: 151 },
        descriptionPosition: 'bottom',
      },
      {
        image: '/guides/city-budgets/klarifi-city-budgets-step-four.webp',
        description:
          'Look only at projects expecting to begin in 2026 or later',
        hotspot: { x: 515, y: 245 },
        descriptionPosition: 'bottom',
      },
      {
        image: '/guides/city-budgets/klarifi-city-budgets-step-five.webp',
        description: "Let's run the search",
        hotspot: { x: 950, y: 245 },
        descriptionPosition: 'bottom',
      },
      {
        image: '/guides/city-budgets/klarifi-city-budgets-step-six.webp',
        description: 'See details by clicking on a specific project',
        hotspot: { x: 220, y: 380 },
        descriptionPosition: 'bottom',
      },
      {
        image: '/guides/city-budgets/klarifi-city-budgets-step-seven.webp',
      },
    ]}
  />
</Box>

<Heading as="h2" id="conclusion" fontSize="2xl" fontWeight="bold" mt={8} mb={4} color="gray.800">
Conclusion
</Heading>

<Text fontSize="md" mb={4}>
Michigan cities are planning substantial investments in wastewater infrastructure, particularly in the 2026-2027 timeframe. While spending is widespread across many cities, Kalamazoo represents a significant concentration of the planned budget. The majority of individual projects are relatively small, but large-scale initiatives drive the overall investment figures. This analysis provides a valuable snapshot of planned spending based on the available CIP data from Klarifi's market intelligence platform, highlighting key areas and timelines for wastewater infrastructure development in Michigan.
</Text>


<BlogEndSection />

</Box>

An in-depth analysis of planned wastewater and sewer project spending in Michigan cities, based on Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) data.

Michigan cities prioritize wastewater and sewer infrastructure with over $3.5 Billion in planned investments

Infrastructure investment varies widely across Michigan cities

Near-term focus dominates planned infrastructure projects

Spending by project type

Small projects dominate in number, but big projects drive the dollars

How to find details about individual projects using Klarifi's platform

Conclusion

Analysis of Michigan wastewater project spending (CIP data)

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