Senators Baldwin, Collins Take Action to Help Provide Clean Drinking Water for Rural Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the bipartisan Healthy Drinking Water Affordability Act, or the Healthy H2O Act, to provide grants for water testing and treatment technology directly to individuals and non-profits in rural communities. Wisconsin continues to identify new sources of contaminated water and soil from chemicals like PFAs, but many smaller communities lack the resources to conduct testing to identify them and mitigation to remove them.

“All Wisconsin families, businesses, and communities should trust that the water coming out of their faucets is safe to drink, but across our state, rural communities are struggling to identify and treat chemicals like PFAs that endanger our health, especially for children,” said Senator Baldwin. “My bipartisan legislation ensures our small and rural communities aren’t left behind and makes sure they have what they need to find and get rid of dangerous chemicals and keep our families healthy.”

“Maintaining and upgrading water and wastewater systems is vital to ensuring the economic and environmental health of our communities,” said Senator Collins. “This bipartisan legislation will help reduce health-based contaminants like PFAS in drinking water, increase consumer confidence, and protect public health.”

The Healthy H2O Act would provide grants for water quality testing and the purchase and installation of point-of-use or point-of-entry water quality improvement systems that remove or significantly reduce contaminants from drinking water. Grants would be provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture directly to individuals and to non-profits in rural areas, specifically to those in communities with a population under 10,000, to help people test their water and install a water treatment product if needed. According to the most recent census, Wisconsin has 714 towns that have populations under 10,000.

Across the United States and in Wisconsin, communities face threats to their drinking water from a number of contaminants, including lead, arsenic, nitrates, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), PFOA, PFOS, hexavalent chromium-6, and others. The Healthy H2O Act will provide grants for those living in rural communities to increase access to the many technologies for testing and water treatment at the point of use.

The Healthy H2O Act is supported by the Water Quality Association, American Supply Association, Plumbing Manufacturers International, Rural Community Assistance Partnership, National Groundwater Association, High Performance Building Coalition, NSF International, Water Systems Council, Water Well Trust, The Groundwater Foundation, International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, International Code Council, DigDeep, California Ground Water Association, Eastern Water Quality Association, Florida Groundwater Association, Florida Water Quality Association, Illinois Association of Groundwater Professionals, Iowa Water Quality Association, Kentucky Groundwater Association, Michigan Ground Water Association, Michigan Water Quality Association, Minnesota Water Quality Association, Minnesota Water Well Association, Montana Water Well Drillers Association, Nebraska On-Site Wastewater Association, Nebraska State Irrigation Association, Nebraska Water Leaders Academy, Nebraska Well Drillers Association, Ohio Water Quality Association, Ohio Water Well Association, Pacific Water Quality Association, Pennsylvania Groundwater Association, Texas Water Quality Association, Virginia Water Well Association, Water Council of Milwaukee, Water Quality Association of Wisconsin, and Well Drillers Association of Wisconsin.

Companion legislation was introduced today in the U.S. House by Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01) and David Rouzer (R-NC-07).

The full text of this legislation is available here. A one-pager on this legislation is available here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.