Federal obligations in water supply and irrigation systems (NAICS 221310)

A utilities code, not a construction NAICS

NAICS 221310 covers establishments that operate water-supply or irrigation systems. Heavy civil construction of water mains, treatment plants, or canals often uses 23711x construction codes instead. A contract to run a federal irrigation district can land here; a contract to build a new intake may not. The $5,128,817,456.69 total follows the award’s NAICS, not a researcher’s idea of “water infrastructure.”

Searchers who add every water-related line — construction, plumbing, environmental services — will overstate 221310. SpendingVault keeps Census codes separate. A plumbing contractor (238220) that replaces fixtures on a federal campus is not this utilities class even if water is involved.

2,505 awards on a $5.13 billion obligation stock

Two thousand five hundred five awards produced $5,128,817,456.69 in obligations. That is a moderate action count: thicker than some heavy-civil codes with a few hundred awards, thinner than wholesale lines with hundreds of thousands of delivery orders. The packet does not split operations contracts from equipment buys. The table reports the tagged total and the award count.

Obligations rise and fall with new awards, options, and modifications, including deobligations. Outlays are payments and are not this $5,128,817,456.69 figure. A multi-year operating contract can show a large obligation while cash goes out over many fiscal years. The industry page does not convert commitments into a spending calendar.

Why water grants often miss this page

USAspending.gov stores NAICS on contract actions. State revolving-fund grants, rural water assistance, and tribal water settlements are assistance instruments and often have no NAICS. Those dollars will not add to the 2,505 awards or the $5,128,817,456.69 contract rollup even when the work is water supply. Open recipient or program pages for grant-heavy water activity.

The code is a Census industry classification. It is not an FEC employer string, not a Bureau of Reclamation project list, and not an EPA public-water-system inventory. Cite USAspending.gov via SpendingVault for this contract NAICS total only.

What the 221310 table shows

The hub lists recipients and awards that share the 221310 tag. A large obligation is a disclosed commitment. It is not a drought finding, a water-quality violation, or a statement that a district is privately owned. SpendingVault does not infer hydrology or ownership from the dollar total.

Prime NAICS tagging can hide construction subcontractors who install pipe under an operations prime. Use award IDs, not the $5,128,817,456.69 headline, to separate two utilities or two federal customers. UEI and name changes are ordinary in the file.

Neighboring water codes

Water and sewer line construction, sewage treatment, and plumbing contractors are other NAICS rows. Adding them to $5,128,817,456.69 is a recode, not this page’s number. Irrigation construction that Census files under heavy civil will not sit in 221310 unless the award was tagged that way.

For a recipient that both operates a system and receives construction grants, read the recipient record’s contract and assistance tabs. This guide stays on contract NAICS 221310: $5,128,817,456.69 across 2,505 awards from USAspending.gov. The assistance gap is a schema limit, not a SpendingVault omission of known grant totals.

Irrigation versus municipal supply on the same code

Census puts water-supply systems and irrigation systems in the same six-digit utilities class. A federal irrigation-district operating contract and a federal campus potable-water operations contract can both tag 221310. The $5,128,817,456.69 rollup does not split those uses. The packet does not publish acre-feet, customer counts, or gallons.

Readers who need construction of canals or treatment plants should open heavy-civil industry pages rather than stretching 221310. The 2,505 awards remain the operations-class contract tag from USAspending.gov. Obligations, not outlays, still govern the headline. Modifications on long operating vehicles can move the total without a matching same-day payment. Operating contracts can show a large obligation while invoices trail across years; that lag is why outlays are the wrong label for $5,128,817,456.69. The 2,505 awards are the 221310 contract tag only. Construction of canals and treatment plants belongs on heavy-civil industry pages unless those awards were themselves tagged 221310. SpendingVault does not publish acre-feet or customer counts on this hub. Irrigation-district operations and campus potable-water operations can share this six-digit utilities class; the $5,128,817,456.69 rollup does not split them.

Questions

How much has the federal government obligated under NAICS 221310?

USAspending.gov contract aggregates on SpendingVault show $5,128,817,456.69 in obligations across 2,505 awards tagged water supply and irrigation systems. The number is obligations, not outlays. Assistance awards without NAICS — including many water grants — are omitted. It is not an FEC string and not a full water-infrastructure sector total.

Does this include building water treatment plants?

Construction of water and sewer lines or treatment plants often uses heavy-civil NAICS codes, not 221310. NAICS 221310 is utilities operations for water supply and irrigation. An award tagged 23711x will not add to the $5,128,817,456.69 total. The 2,505 awards are the 221310 contract tag from USAspending.gov.

Are these outlays or obligations?

Obligations: legally binding commitments on contract actions. Outlays are payments and are not this $5,128,817,456.69 rollup. Operating contracts can obligate a large amount while payments stretch across years. SpendingVault cites USAspending.gov contract NAICS for the 2,505 awards, not a cash-disbursement extract.

Why are EPA or USDA water grants missing from the total?

Those programs are usually assistance awards. Assistance often has no NAICS field, so it does not add to the 2,505 contract awards or $5,128,817,456.69. Open program or recipient pages for grant activity. This industry page reports only contract actions tagged 221310 in USAspending.gov.