Backing Clean Drinking Water Projects

June 2020

Clean and safe drinking water is a necessity. We all need clean water, and it must be a priority for every community in our country. In the places where we do not have the assurance that water flowing through the faucets is safe, inadequate infrastructure should be addressed. I led a bipartisan letter urging Senate appropriators to dedicate robust funding to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). These state revolving funds (SRF) programs help boost water quality initiatives in all states to increase access to clean drinking water for all Americans.

Helping cash-strapped communities with timely improvements to aging water delivery systems has been a longtime focus. When I served as Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Water, I conducted a hearing in 2004 to review the detection of lead in Washington, D.C., drinking water when increased lead levels led to a public health scare. The review focused on D.C. as a specific example and warning to all cities to mitigate similar circumstances. Since, we have seen other examples, such as in Flint, Michigan, where water quality issues have highlighted the importance of investing in safe and clean water infrastructure.