Democracy Rules

Our nation’s water treatment plants treat sewage and wastewater for safe release, and treat drinking water to ensure it is safe for consumption. In some places these two water treatment facilities are located in proximity to one another, their efficiency clearly interdependent. There are 16,000 publicly-owned wastewater treatment plants currently serving 75% of our population – with the remaining being served by decentralized or private septic systems. Advocates claim many of these industrial-scale facilities are operating at capacity or past their expected lifespan. They say most of these plants were constructed when technology was relatively primitive, water was abundant, and people and pollution were not. It is estimated we need to spend about $1 trillion on rebuilding our water purification and wastewater treatment plants over the next 25 years in order to keep up with our needs. Advocates warn these facilities have been neglected far too long, and failure to renovate them will likely have dire effects on the safety of our water supply. Advocates claim every person has a fundamental right to safe water, regardless of where they live, what they look like, or how much money they make. Yet private water corporations do whatever they can to maximize their profits, even if it makes water too expensive or puts people’s well-being at risk.

Pending legislation: H.R.1729 - Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act, or the WATER Act of 2023
Sponsor: Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ)
Status: Referred to 6 Committees for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker
House Minority Leader: Rep. Hakeem Jefferies (NY) (Requesting Discharge Petition)

I oppose reforming current water treatment policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Speaker Mike Johnson (LA).
I support creating a trust fund dedicated to drinking water projects throughout the nation, removing contaminants like lead and PFAS forever chemicals, directing grants to low-income communities to prevent water shutoffs by privatized water companies, investing $35 billion into an annual trust fund for water and sewer infrastructure modernization, and creating well-paying jobs every year that would hire and train from the communities where these projects are located by: 1.) Establishing a Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Trust Fund to be used for specified grant programs. 2.) Increasing the corporate income tax rate to 24.5% to provide revenues for this fund. 3.) Revising requirements concerning the clean water state revolving fund (SRF) and the drinking water SRF, including by prohibiting states from providing financial assistance using amounts from the clean water SRF for projects that will provide substantial direct benefits to new communities other than projects for constructing an advanced decentralized wastewater system. 4.) Creating or reauthorizing several grant programs related to water infrastructure, such as grants for removing lead from drinking water. And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Hakeem Jefferies (NY) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.

Winning Option »» I support creating a trust fund dedicated to drinking water projects throughout the nation, removing contaminants like lead and PFAS forever chemicals, directing grants to low-income communities to prevent water shutoffs by privatized water companies, investing $35 billion into an annual trust fund for water and sewer infrastructure modernization, and creating well-paying jobs every year that would hire and train from the communities where these projects are located by: 1.) Establishing a Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Trust Fund to be used for specified grant programs. 2.) Increasing the corporate income tax rate to 24.5% to provide revenues for this fund. 3.) Revising requirements concerning the clean water state revolving fund (SRF) and the drinking water SRF, including by prohibiting states from providing financial assistance using amounts from the clean water SRF for projects that will provide substantial direct benefits to new communities other than projects for constructing an advanced decentralized wastewater system. 4.) Creating or reauthorizing several grant programs related to water infrastructure, such as grants for removing lead from drinking water. And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Hakeem Jefferies (NY) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.