TFTT Report

EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator Joel Beauvais recently laid out steps his agency plans to take to ensure all Americans have access to safe drinking water. Beauvais outlined the EPA’s vision for a national action plan to engage a diverse set of stakeholders to strengthen the country’s drinking water systems.

This announcement is both timely and crucial. As The Hill detailed last week, our country is, without a doubt, in the midst of a water crisis – facing crumbling water infrastructure and a significant gap in available funding for investment. Reporters Sarah Ferris and Peter Sullivan talk about the “dangers [that] lurk underground” and how “antiquated water systems…are increasingly likely to break down or spread contaminants like lead.” As we have seen in Flint, this threat is very real.

Truth from the Tap agrees with Natural Resources Defense Council’s Erik Olson, who called America’s aging infrastructure “a huge problem nationwide” and noted that some of the water pipes serving communities are more than 100 years old. As a result, it’s no wonder that the American Society of Civil Engineers gives our nation’s water infrastructure a D grade and estimates that there are 240,000 water main breaks every year, disrupting service, damaging communities, and wasting a valuable natural resource.

Concern about America’s infrastructure was further evidenced in a recent survey of U.S. Mayors conducted by Politico Magazine. With public funding for infrastructure competing with many other budgetary priorities, one-third of mayors surveyed said they are worried they have jeopardized the public health of their community through a cost-cutting decision on infrastructure.

Private water management companies are a crucial component of the solution. Each year, America’s three largest private water utilities alone invest almost $2 billion into replacing and upgrading America’s water systems. Further, these professionals bring unparalleled water expertise and experience to each community they serve and are proud of their near-perfect record of compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

America’s private water industry is eager to continue working with the EPA, community leaders and other stakeholders to address this urgent national challenge. Our water infrastructure needs urgent investment and we applaud the EPA for taking an “all hands on deck” approach to one of our nation’s toughest challenges.