ASDWA Submits Testimony to Senate Committee on Drinking Water Legislation

Today, ASDWA submitted written testimony to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public as a part of the information-gathering process regarding the draft America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 (AWIA 2020) and the Drinking Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 (DWIA 2020). ASDWA’s testimony focuses on the aspects of the draft legislation that amend the Safe Drinking Water Act and supports the increased and extended authorizations for existing lead programs, increased support for water systems to enhance security and resiliency, and support of new and existing programs to assist small, rural, and disadvantaged systems.
ASDWA emphasizes the importance of federal support for state drinking water programs and requests the authorization for the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) program be increased from the current $125 million to $250 million annually as a part of this legislation. The draft bills reauthorize and increase the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) but is silent on Drinking Water SRF reauthorization. ASDWA asks the Committee to take this opportunity to extend and increase the authorization for the Drinking Water SRF and waive the requirement for the 2020 and 2021 state match due to impacts on state budgets and funding from the COVID-19 pandemic. More details are available in the full ASDWA Testimony.