Congress should convene hearings and develop legislation to reform the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in response to a “national crisis” on drinking water quality, two top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote to their Republican counterparts on June 30. No legislation containing a SDWA overhaul is expected to advance on Capitol Hill before the end of this year, but the letter likely previews the issues Democrats would focus on should the party take control of one or both chambers of Congress following the elections this fall.
Signed by House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Environment and the Economy Subcommittee ranking member Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), the letter can be viewed as the House Democrats’ opening argument in favor of SDWA reform. Noting that the law has not been significantly updated in the 20 years since passage of the 1996 amendments, the letter argues that changes are needed to address “lead exposure in communities and schools, drinking water facility security, the need to repair and replace deteriorating drinking water infrastructure,” and to respond to “some of the most noteworthy failures of our drinking water protection system in decades.”
“Drinking water systems across the country are facing crumbling infrastructure, water main breaks, source water contamination, shut-downs, as well as drought and other threats from climate change,” Pallone and Tonko wrote. “Consumers … are facing exposure to lead, perchlorate, Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), and other chemicals that are not regulated, or effectively regulated, under the Act.”
The letter stops short of highlighting specific policy recommendations to address these issues, but previous Democratic-backed proposals have sought to expedite EPA’s regulation of drinking water contaminants, allow individuals to bring citizen suits under SDWA, permit state or federal regulators to mandate the replacement of drinking water disinfection chemicals with “inherently safer technologies," and dramatically increase funding for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
While congressional Republicans are receptive to few, if any, of these ideas, Democrats would gain the upper hand to push for changes to SDWA should the party take control either the House or Senate following the November elections. In a Democratic House, for example, Reps. Pallone and Tonko would become the chairmen of their respective committee and subcommittee, giving them the authority to set the drinking water policy agenda and to put their panels to work writing legislation to overhaul SDWA.
The most recent projections indicate that Democrats have a strong chance of taking the Senate on Election Day, while gaining control of the House is more of a long shot – though not outside the realm of possibility.
Even if Republicans maintain control of Congress this fall, Democrats on Capitol Hill are likely to continue calling for a SDWA overhaul. Additional policy details could come as early as September, when congressional staff have privately indicated that Reps. Pallone and Tonko could unveil a draft SDWA reauthorization bill to showcase the party’s preferred reforms to the law.