AMWA-backed legislation that would allow drinking water systems to share annual consumer confidence reports electronically rather than through the postal mail continues to attract growing support in Congress. The “End Unnecessary Costs Caused by Report Mailing Act” (H.R. 1340) now has the support of 30 cosponsors in the House of Representatives. Momentum has grown throughout the fall, as the bill has picked up more than 20 supporters just since Congress returned from its August recess.
The concept of electronic CCRs also received a boost last month when Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) introduced a similar bill in the upper chamber as S. 1578, the “End Unnecessary Mailers Act.” Like the House bill, the Senate version would give utilities whose drinking water is in compliance with all MCL standards the choice of publishing their CCRs electronically or sending them to all customers through the postal mail. Only utilities that experienced an MCL violation in the year covered by the CCR would be required to send all reports through the postal mail. The Senate measure has earned the support of six cosponsors, and several more may join in the coming weeks.
Water utilities have said electronic CCRs have the potential to save tens of thousands of dollars per year in printing and mailing costs, which has gotten the attention of EPA: the Agency announced in August that it may consider revisions to its CCR rule to facilitate electronic distribution as part of its Retrospective Review of Existing Regulations. Some EPA staff believe SDWA already gives the Agency the regulatory authority to permit CCR distribution through email, but some Capitol Hill staff have questioned that interpretation and insist that Congress must sign off on any reforms that would allow mailed CCRs to be replaced with electronic versions.
AMWA has been aggressively promoting H.R. 1340 and S. 1578 on Capitol Hill, but further increasing the number of supporters in the House and Senate is very important to moving the bills forward. To receive a sample letter your utility may use to write its representatives and senators in support of these bills, please contact AMWA’s Dan Hartnett.