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Winning Issue » DRINKING WATER


In a 2014 cost-saving move, the city of Flint, Michigan switched its drinking water supply from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River. Inadequate treatment and testing of this water resulted in major water quality and health issues for Flint residents, many of whom endured skin rashes, hair loss and itchy skin. Officials later admitted that high concentrations of lead in the city’s drinking water were to blame for these health problems. Aging infrastructure and the cost to replace old water pipes and lead solder used in household plumbing was also a factor in this disaster. There is no acceptable level of lead in drinking water. And there are more than 6 million lead service lines - pipes that connect a water main to a building’s plumbing - in the U.S. today. Since this catastrophe, Newark, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore and Milwaukee have all realized their water systems are also contaminated with lead - and there is likely to be many more cities with this problem. One 2016 report found that more than 5,000 U.S. water systems serving roughly 18 million people have violated EPA rules for lead content in drinking water.

Pending Legislation: H.R.3282 - Drinking Water Funding for the Future Act of 2021
Sponsor: Rep. David McKinley (WV)
Status: House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment (Transportation and Infrastructure)
Chair: Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR))



Options


  • I oppose reforming current drinking water policy and wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA).
  • I support authorizing $12 billion over 5 years to invest in and modernize America’s drinking water infrastructure by:

    1.) Reauthorizing funding for drinking water programs under the Safe Drinking Water Act and America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.

    2.) Authorizing $1.9 billion annually for federal capitalization payments to State Drinking Water Revolving Funds; $125 million annually to fund state efforts to implement and enforce federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards; and $60 million annually in grants to small and economically disadvantaged communities, tribes, or states toward providing household water quality testing and general compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.

    3.) Authorizing another $60 million annually for a program to help communities finance programs and activities to reduce lead in their treated drinking water, including the replacement of lead service lines, as well as $25 million annually for a voluntary testing program for lead in drinking water in schools and child care centers.

    And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.


Winning Option
  • I support authorizing $12 billion over 5 years to invest in and modernize America’s drinking water infrastructure by:

    1.) Reauthorizing funding for drinking water programs under the Safe Drinking Water Act and America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.

    2.) Authorizing $1.9 billion annually for federal capitalization payments to State Drinking Water Revolving Funds; $125 million annually to fund state efforts to implement and enforce federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards; and $60 million annually in grants to small and economically disadvantaged communities, tribes, or states toward providing household water quality testing and general compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.

    3.) Authorizing another $60 million annually for a program to help communities finance programs and activities to reduce lead in their treated drinking water, including the replacement of lead service lines, as well as $25 million annually for a voluntary testing program for lead in drinking water in schools and child care centers.

    And wish to donate resources to the campaign committee of Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR) and/or to an advocate group currently working with this issue.
There has been $0.00 pledged in support of this issue
Trustee Candidates

If elected as a trustee, the campaign committee of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI) will be unconditionally awarded the funds pledged to this issue along with a letter requesting her to favorably consider reintroducing H.R.8271 - Environmental Justice Legacy Pollution Cleanup Act of 2020.

If elected as a trustee, the campaign committee of Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR) will be unconditionally awarded the funds pledged to this issue along with a letter requesting him to favorably consider passing H.R.3282 - Drinking Water Funding for the Future Act of 2021.

If elected as a trustee, Center Health Environment & Justice will be awarded the funds pledged to this issue along with a letter requesting these funds be used to advocate for all eligible hazardous waste sites to be included in the Superfund clean-up program.

About: The Center for Health, Environment & Justice helps build healthy communities nationwide. Since its founding in 1981, CHEJ has grown into the nation’s leading resource for grassroots environmental activism, a ground-breaking, progressive organization with a vision for clean, green neighborhoods built from hard-won experience fighting for environmental justice. Through training, coalition building and one-on-one technical assistance and mentoring, CHEJ works to level the playing field so that people have a say in the environmental policies and decisions that affect their health and well-being.

If elected as a trustee, Natural Resources Defense Council will be awarded the funds pledged to this issue along with a letter requesting these funds be used to work and advocate for safe drinking water.

About: NRDC works to safeguard the earth - its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild. With dedicated staff working in more than a dozen program areas, we partner with businesses, elected leaders, and community groups on the biggest issues we face today including nature, the environment, climate and clean energy.
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Trustee Election - Opening Date
August 15, 2022
Trustee Election - Closing Date
August 22, 2022