[Senate Hearing 118-370]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 118-370
RURAL WATER: MODERNIZING OUR
COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEMS
=======================================================================
HEARING
[BEFORE THE]
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND ENERGY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
----------
July 19, 2023
----------
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
56-336 PDF WASHINGTON : 2024
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan, Chairwoman
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York JONI ERNST, Iowa
TINA SMITH, Minnesota CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
CORY BOOKER, New Jersey TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia CHARLES GRASSLEY, Iowa
PETER WELCH, Vermont JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
Erica Chabot, Majority Staff Director
Chu-Yuan Hwang, Majority Chief Counsel
Jessica L. Williams, Chief Clerk
Fitzhugh Elder IV, Minority Staff Director
Jackie Barber, Minority Chief Counsel
----------
Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy
PETER WELCH, Vermont Chairman
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado JONI ERNST, Iowa
TINA SMITH, Minnesota MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois CHARLES GRASSLEY, Iowa
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
C O N T E N T S
----------
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Page
Hearing:
Rural Water: Modernizing Our Community Water Systems............. 1
----------
STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS
Welch, Hon. Peter, U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont........ 1
Tuberville, Hon. Tommy, U.S. Senator from the State of Alabama... 2
WITNESSES
Day, Jennifer, Director of Development, RCAP Solutions,
Worcester, MA.................................................. 6
Duncan, Joseph, Professional Engineer, Champlain Water District/
Green Mountain Water Environment Association, South Burlington,
VT............................................................. 7
Flowers, Catherine Coleman, Founder and CEO, The Rural Center for
Enterprise and Environmental Justice, Huntsville, AL........... 9
Undesser, Pauli, Chief Executive Officer, Water Quality
Association and Water Quality Research Foundation, Lisle, IL... 10
White IV, Robert N., Executive Director, Alabama Rural Water
Association, Montgomery, AL.................................... 12
----------
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Day, Jennifer................................................ 28
Duncan, Joseph............................................... 56
Flowers, Catherine Coleman................................... 62
Undesser, Pauli.............................................. 70
White IV, Robert N........................................... 364
Question and Answer:
Day, Jennifer:
Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman......... 384
Written response to questions from Hon. Ben Ray Lujan........ 386
Duncan, Joseph:
Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman......... 388
Flowers, Catherine Coleman:
Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman......... 390
Undesser, Pauli:
Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman......... 391
Written response to questions from Hon. Ben Ray Lujan........ 393
White IV, Robert N.:
Written response to questions from Hon. Tommy Tuberville..... 395
Written response to questions from Hon. John Boozman......... 402
RURAL WATER: MODERNIZING OUR COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEMS
----------
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
U.S. Senate
Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3 p.m., in
room 328A, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Peter Welch,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Welch [presiding], Stabenow, Booker,
Lujan, Tuberville, Hyde-Smith, and Braun.
Also Present: Senators Booker and Hyde-Smith.
STATEMENT OF HON. PETER WELCH, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF
VERMONT
Senator Welch. I call the hearing of the U.S. Senate
Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy to order. First of
all, it is wonderful to have the witnesses here, and I just
want to start off by acknowledging what is happening in
Vermont. We have had tremendous flooding, a great deal of
suffering, homes and businesses, and our water systems have
been, in many cases, the town of Johnson I will speak about a
little bit, a bit overwhelmed.
It is a timely hearing because there is a lot of
vulnerability in a lot of our water and septic systems,
especially in rural America, all around the country. Many of
our town--Johnson, Richmond, Woodstock, Morrisville, and
Barre--are under boil-water orders right now, and that is
pretty tough on folks.
On Friday, with Senator Sanders and Congresswoman Balint we
toured Johnson, Vermont, and the wastewater treatment plant was
a complete loss. It was amazing. The plant was underwater for
two days. They had eight feet of water on the first floor. That
is after the basement was flooded. The plant typically takes in
270,000 gallons in a day. It was taking in 1.25 million. The
system was outdated. That is just one example where we had that
terrible rain, but many of the communities that you all
represent could probably report outdated systems as well.
You know, these weather events, with climate change are
getting more and more frequent, and it is more and more urgent
that we try to make our systems resilient.
If there was one bright spot in the flooding last week is
that some of the resiliency work that was done after we had
Tropical Storm Irene--that was in 2011--actually made a big
difference. FEMA did something where we were able to build back
to higher standards as opposed to just what we had. It is a
real argument, I think, for resilience going forward,
anticipating the scope of storms that we may have to contend
with.
These well-functioning water systems, as you all know, are
absolutely essential to rural communities, the health and the
safety and the economy of rural communities. Some of our rural
communities have aging or insufficient systems. That is
particularly true in lower-income communities, many of which
have significant challenges facing, and in many cases, are
communities of color. Many of these systems are facing
obstacles, and this is true in all of our rural communities,
where they have small systems, little funding, challenges make
regular investments in infrastructure impossible in managing
and governing capacity. All of those are big challenges, and
when you do not have a tax base to be able to get the resources
you need it makes it very, very tough.
We have got some terrific witnesses here today. Joe Duncan,
it is good to have you, President of Green Mountain Water
Environment Association, and Jennifer Day, Director of
Development. You have first-hand experience with these issues
in Vermont, and we look forward to hearing from you. One of our
witnesses today, Catherine Coleman Flowers, has spent years
fighting for her own community in Lowndes County, Alabama.
I just want to acknowledge your presence and the work you
have done over all these years. What I understand is one of the
incredible effects of not having proper water and septic
systems is that there can be real illness, and I understand 34
percent of the county residents tested positive for hookworm
because of the pollution. That is a situation that we do not
want anywhere.
The USDA Rural Development Program has programs to help
small and rural communities to maintain and improve their water
systems. Among those programs is technical assistance, which is
in real demand in these small communities, where they do not
have the technical capacity, and it is helpful in evaluating
and planning drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.
There are also some grants and loans for construction, although
not enough, and communities at every step of the process can
benefit from the USDA water programming.
In the farm bill I am hopeful that we can increase funding
where we can and protect funding where we need to. There is a
money issue here--how do you afford to do what needs to be
done?
We look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and before
we do I want to turn it over to my colleague, the Ranking
Member, Senator Tuberville. Thank you, Senator.
STATEMENT OF HON. TOMMY TUBERVILLE, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE
OF ALABAMA
Senator Tuberville. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and first I
would like to start by saying I want to send my condolences to
people in Vermont and all of the Northeast. What a catastrophe
that was last week. We all saw the pictures on TV, and
sometimes even the pictures do not make it, you know, what it
actually is. A lot of people out of their homes and it is
tough.
Senator Welch. Thank you.
Senator Tuberville. I always appreciate working with you
here, and what an important topic this is today. We cannot do
without water. It is so important that we probably should be
spending more time on this than not.
I want to extend a special welcome to two Alabamians, Mr.
Rob White and Ms. Catherine Flowers. Thanks for being here
today. I look forward to our discussion about ways to ensure
Americans in rural areas have access to water infrastructure
needed to keep them and their families safe and healthy, a
topic which impacts constituents in Alabama and really all over
the world, not just our country but all over the world.
Every American deserves access to water that is clean and
safe to drink, and a functioning water system that safely
disposes of sewage and waste. It does not matter where you live
or what background you have, clean drinking water and sanitary
waste disposal systems are a necessity that are directly linked
to better health outcomes for all Americans. However,
communities across the Nation face constant threats to their
water services, due to various contaminants, cybersecurity
risk, work force challenges, aging infrastructure, and funding
shortages.
What is this Committee's role in the overall rural water
discussion? To prioritize rural communities in the farm bill
discussion we must help rural communities access the resources
they need to achieve economic success, prosperity, and better
health and educational outcomes, ensuring they are not left
behind their urban counterparts.
This is my goal as we continue to look at ways to improve
and modernize the various funding and technical assistance
programs within the USDA Water and Environmental Programs
Division. In Alabama, there are 503 permitted community water
systems. Out of over 500 systems in the State, 75 percent of
these serve communities with a population of less than 10,000.
Many of these are in what we call the Black Belt. However, all
communities have access to public water or wastewater systems.
In fact, Quality Water Association states that
approximately 23 million households--23 million households--
across the country rely on private wells to deliver their
water. In Alabama, over 212,000 households rely on private
wells. Private Wells are a necessity for rural areas as a
public water system, and they may not be feasible due to
location or funding. Considering these private wells are not
subject to the same regulatory oversight as public systems, we
must ensure these rural areas have the same access to water
treatment systems as the more populated areas.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 21.7
million households resort to using a septic tank or a
decentralized system to remove sewage, as a public sewer system
is unavailable. In Alabama, many residents throughout the Black
Belt rely on these decentralized waste systems. We cannot
forget these citizens. No matter your ZIP code, all Americans
deserve the same access to safe drinking water and wastewater
systems.
I have heard the challenges from rural communities across
Alabama who struggle to secure the necessary financing and
technical assistance to continue operating their water and
wastewater systems. In addition to funding concerns, I hear
about work force challenges. Labor shortages continue to be top
of mind across not only Alabama but across our Nation. Many
certified water operators across the country are aging toward
retirement, and there are not enough qualified applicants to
fill the positions. We are facing a growing knowledge gap in
the future of the water and wastewater industry. We need to
close the gap.
To comply with numerous Federal regulations, small and
rural systems are being forced to outsource to private
companies as they do not have the staffing capacities or
knowledge to perform activities in-house. This is unacceptable.
I will be looking for ways to modernize the regulatory
environment at USDA so that water systems are able to safely
serve all Americans while complying with regulations based on
science, not politics or activism. We must find the delicate
balance between updating and maintaining critical
infrastructure, treating water to safe levels, preparing for
natural disasters and cybersecurity threats, and maintaining a
fiscal budget. I believe this Committee can find that balance.
I look forward to this, Mr. Chairman, and I look forward to
talking to our witnesses today and learning as much as we
possibly can about their areas. Thank you.
Senator Welch. Thank you, Senator Tuberville, and I am
delighted that the Chair of our Committee, Senator Stabenow,
from Michigan, has joined us. Senator.
Chairwoman Stabenow. Well, let me just say thank you so
much for this important hearing, and I am so appreciative of
all the wonderful work the Subcommittee is doing. Thank you to
you, Chairman Welch, and Ranking Member Tuberville. I very much
appreciate it.
I also just want to extend my deepest condolences to your
home State of Vermont for the ongoing flooding conditions. It
is just horrendous. I have not had the opportunity to be there,
but looking at the picture it is unbelievable. I know you are
going to continue to be a champion for the recovery in Vermont,
and I know that my colleagues will join me in saying we will do
everything we can to help.
Senator Welch. Thank you so much. That matters. There is so
much the USDA can do to help.
Chairwoman Stabenow. So much.
Senator Welch. I thank you very much for that.
Chairwoman Stabenow. I am so appreciative of everyone who
is here today. Thank you.
Senator Welch. Thank you, Senator.
Our witnesses, we will start with Jennifer Day, who has
over two decades of experience in community and economic
development, including capacity building, managing projects,
water system operation. She and her organization provide very
critical technical, financial, and managerial support in
progress for sustainability of rural communities.
We have Joseph Duncan, who is the General Manager of the
Champlain Water District. It is a renowned regional water
supplier, renowned for those of us in the community and those
of us in Vermont, that received the first Excellence In Water
Treatment Award in the United States, the very first. With a
master's degree in environmental engineering, Joe is
responsible for overseeing all operations and business
activities in his district.
Catherine Coleman Flowers, internationally recognized
environmental activist, author, and MacArthur Genius Grant
recipient. She has dedicated her life to advocating for
environmental justice, particularly equal access to clean
water, and functional sanitation for communities in the United
States. Her work includes founding the Center for Rural
Enterprise and Environmental Justice, serving on the boards of
various organizations, and being appointed as Vice Chair of the
White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. In 2023,
she was recognized as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People
in the World. That is pretty amazing.
I will now turn to Senator Tuberville to introduce our
other witnesses.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you. First I would like to
introduce Ms. Pauli Undesser. Did I pronounce that correct?
Ms. Undesser. You did.
Senator Tuberville. Awesome. She serves as the Chief
Executive Officer of the Water Quality Association. She spent
several years as WQA's Director of Regulatory and Technical
Affairs before becoming the CEO, and is a recognized leader
with a vast knowledge of water treatment technologies,
standards codes, and regulations. Through WQA she works to
promote the betterment of quality water around the globe.
She is also the CEO of the Water Quality Research
Foundation, a nonprofit that sponsors relevant academic and
professional research to advance the knowledge and science of
high-quality, sustainable water. In 2016, Ms. Undesser was
named to the Association Forum's 40 Under 40 List, and in 2018,
she was honored with the Association Forum's Inspiring Leader
Award. Congratulations. She holds a bachelor's degree in
chemistry from the University of Illinois, and a master's
degree in biochemistry from Northern Illinois University.
Thanks for being here today.
Next is Mr. Rob White. Our next witness, he is from
Wetumpka, Alabama. Rob is the Executive Director of the Alabama
Rural Water Association, which represents over 450 water and
wastewater utilities across our great State of Alabama. He was
born in Troy, spent considerable time in the watergrass region
of the State so he knows the ins and outs of rural Alabama. Rob
has over two decades of experience in improving the water and
wastewater industry and works hard to ensure all Alabamians
have access to clean water.
He is a certified specialist in many fields, including
water and wastewater operations, a commercial efficiency
auditor, and training specialist, and the FEMA National
Incident Management System. For over a decade he has helped
implement Alabama's rural waters and emergency response
programs, which oversees response efforts across various
natural disasters and pandemics. Additionally, he manages a
loan program for water and wastewater utilities, helps
utilities seek diverse funding sources, and provides technical
assistance to hundreds of systems across the State.
I am grateful for the hard work rob has done so far to
deliver water and wastewater in our rural communities through
Alabama, and I look forward to seeing his continued work.
Thanks for being here today, Mr. White.
Senator Welch. Thank you. Ms. Jennifer Day, you are
recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF JENNIFER DAY, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT, RCAP
SOLUTIONS, WORCESTER, MA
Ms. Day. Thank you, Chairman Welch, Ranking Member
Tuberville, and members of the Subcommittee, for this
opportunity to discuss the importance of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Rural Development suite of programs and services
that foster rural economic development and prosperity. USDA-RD
is the only Federal agency dedicated solely to rural America
and plays a key role in improving access to capital to ensure
rural areas remain great places to live and thrive.
I also want to thank this Committee for their work on
writing the next farm bill and for prioritizing water as part
of your schedule today.
My name is Jennifer Day, and I am the Director of
Development with Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP)
Solutions, the Northeast and U.S. Caribbean RCAP. I am very
proud of my five years both in the field and as the Director of
Community and Environmental Resources, responsible for a team
of 30 technical assistance providers serving rural communities
across all New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
RCAP is a national network of nonprofit partners working to
provide technical assistance, training, and resources for rural
communities in every State, territory, on Tribal lands, and in
the colonias. Through our network of more than 350 technical
assistance providers, they build capacity that leads to
sustainable and resilient infrastructure and strengthens rural
economies. Our approach is grounded in long-term, trusted
relationships in those communities.
For 50 years, this network has partnered with multiple
Federal agencies, including USDA-Rural Development, to bridge
the gap between Federal programs and the communities they
serve. We help communities understand how to properly manage
and operate their infrastructure in a fiscally sustainable
manner and ensure that Federal borrowers meet the terms of
their loans.
RCAP supports robust reauthorization of USDA-Rural
Development water, wastewater, and solid waste grant and loan
programs and their associated technical assistance programs,
including the Water and Environment Programs, or WEP, in the
next farm bill, programs whose impact can be demonstrated in
every State and territory, including in Vermont, where flooding
last week and the major disaster declaration highlights the
importance of the long-term, managerial, and financial work
that is RCAP's specialty, enabling small systems to prepare for
and recover from emergencies.
In Vermont, the WEP funding allowed RCAP solutions to work
directly with 25 communities in the past few years, on a range
of critical water and wastewater needs. We helped board members
who were previously proud of not having raised rates in over a
decade see the light and understand the need to have
sustainable rates that cover their true operating expenses. We
work with water and wastewater system managers to document
system failures, communicate the importance of system upgrades,
and provide public education to ensure that all stakeholders
can make informed decisions when it comes time to vote on
measures.
The need to plan for systems upgrades and comply with
regulations does not discriminate based on system size, and
technical assistance providers like RCAP help fill the capacity
gap of the small rural systems.
In most cases it takes multiple years of predevelopment
planning and multiple funders to successfully implement each
project. The small systems rely on federally funded
predevelopment grants and technical assistance like USDA-Rural
Development and the RCAP network provides. We assist with
community engagement, application assistance, and affordability
qualifications.
Continued support, increased funding, and State office
oversight of the SEARCH and WEP funds would increase
applications to WEP to make sure that no rural systems are left
behind.
Our funding application assistance and other related tasks
helps communities in the Northeast and Caribbean receive 57
awards in Fiscal Year 2022 alone, resulting in over $88 million
in grants and low-interest loans. Across the country we did
$400 million in infrastructure funding.
I want to thank the Committee for their work to reauthorize
the critical USDA RD programs in the next farm bill, and we
look forward to working with you to ensure that the rural
communities and USDA have the tools that they need to promote
improved quality of life for rural America.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Day can be found on page 28
in the appendix.]
Senator Welch. Thank you.
Joseph Duncan.
STATEMENT OF JOSEPH DUNCAN, PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER, CHAMPLAIN
WATER DISTRICT/GREEN MOUNTAIN WATER ENVIRONMENT ASSOCIATION,
SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT
Mr. Duncan. Thank you, Chair Welch, Ranking Member
Tuberville, and the members of the Committee. I want to thank
you for having me here to speak to what I believe is, in my
mind, the most important thing out there--water, safe drinking
water. If anybody can live without it, I ask you to raise your
hand.
One of the things that Senator Welch touched upon was how
the reactive measures during Irene in 2011, helped to address
and eliminate, abate some of the issues that occurred in the
2023 flooding that just occurred here in Vermont, and that is
wonderful. It is wonderful that things like that happen where
you can put stuff in place and avoid incidents in the future.
A lot of our water systems operate that way. They wait for
something bad to happen, and when something bad happens that is
when they make a reactive investment in it. That reactive
investment is typically not one that is the most prudent way to
go about it, for users and investors in the system. People are
paying rates to keep their systems up. There is a reason it is
called operation and maintenance. A lot of times what happens
is, especially in Vermont, people are just keeping their rates,
as Jennifer said, keeping their rates low thinking that they
are helping out their fellow citizens, when in reality they are
not doing them any favors. Inflation, as well as all the supply
chain issues and cost increases that we saw with COVID have
caught up very quickly on that.
In Vermont alone, I mean, we are an extremely small State,
extremely small systems. Ten thousand is the cutoff for USDA
Rural Development funding. We have about 1,300 public water
systems in Vermont, serving about 59 percent of our 647,000
residents in Vermont. Of that size, there is even a smaller
amount of systems that are less than 1,000. Ninety-five percent
of our systems are less than 1,000 people. We are an extremely
rural State, and so I know what it looks like to try and
overcome some of the challenges that a lot of these small
systems are seeing.
We need to look at USDA as one of the ways to help our
water systems understand how to do stuff in a proactive manner.
We have to do it both with our assets and our infrastructure on
an investment basis, as well as stopping to take a look at how
do we address the changes in climate that are affecting us,
whether it is impacting your source waters with hot, dry
weather so that you do not have the ability to access water to
deliver to people. Perhaps it is rain events that are impacting
infrastructure by flooding them, or washing stuff away, and how
do you get yourself to be more resilient to deal with that. As
well as--which USDA plays a role in--the electric grid, which I
am not here to speak to, but there is not a water system in the
country, that I am aware of, that does not need the electric
grid to operate. We not only need to look at that from a water
system perspective with our own infrastructure but how we, with
our partners, produce our water.
To me, looking at the farm bill, it is something that comes
up every five years, we have an opportunity to, one, make some
investments in it. One of the things I know, in talking to our
Vermont residents as well as people in the water industry,
there is a concern that the recent ARPA money, as well as BIL
money, is going to give everything that we need to address all
of our water infrastructure needs, and that is not the case,
especially in rural States like Vermont. We need that money to
help fund infrastructure on a very small scale, and USDA is a
great place, a great source of that.
It is also one of the only funding sources that I am aware
of that is also not a regulatory compliant piece. The EPA is
great with providing funds, but the EPA is a regulatory agency,
and that scares a lot of people in Vermont utilities. The
ability to continue the Circuit Rider program, because boots on
the ground has been incredible for this recent event as well as
other events, trying to look at climate resiliency and funding
that, as well as asset management, is critical for our water
systems.
Then the last thing I will say is that there does need to
be a look at--and it is in my testimony so I will leave it at
that--that bonding is a real challenge in Vermont, the way that
the program is set up. There are some ways, I think, that the
SRF handles it that perhaps USDA Rural Development could look
at so that bonding becomes more of a certainty for accessing
funding.
I thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Duncan can be found on page
56 in the appendix.]
Senator Welch. Thank you.
Catherine Coleman Flowers.
STATEMENT OF CATHERINE COLEMAN FLOWERS, FOUNDER AND CEO, THE
RURAL CENTER FOR ENTERPRISE AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE,
HUNTSVILLE, AL
Ms. Flowers. Thank you, Chairperson Welch, Ranking Member
Tuberville, and all the members of the Subcommittee for the
opportunity to testify. My name is Catherine Coleman Flowers. I
am a disabled veteran and founding director of the Center for
Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice in Huntsville,
Alabama.
I also serve as the practitioner in residence at Duke
University, a member of the boards of the Natural Resource
Defense Council, the American Geophysical Union, and the
Climate Reality Project. In 2020, I was awarded a MacArthur
Fellowship in Environmental Health, and I authored the book
entitled Waste: One Woman's Fight Against America's Dirty
Secret.
In my book I uncovered the extent in which rural America
has been denied access to sustainable and resilient wastewater
infrastructure. Too many people in this country lack safe,
reliable, functioning sanitation. About 1 in five households
are not able to send their sewage to a centralized wastewater
treatment plant. These families rely on onsite sanitation
systems that are more likely to fail. This impacts people
across the country. For example, areas like the colonias and
Tribal nations lack indoor plumbing.
In Hawaii, 88,000 aging cesspools are leaking 53 million
gallons of untreated waste into streams, oceans, and drinking
water every day. Across Appalachia, raw sewage flows past
people's homes. Centreville, Illinois, and Miami, Florida, are
facing well-publicized struggles with sanitation issues. These
systems are absent or failing small rural communities, from the
Central Valley in California to native villages in Alaska. In
Puerto Rico, communities struggle to rebuild wastewater and
septic systems damaged by hurricanes.
As a Lowndes County, Alabama, native, I am too familiar
with the way sanitation failures affect families. Located
between Selma and Montgomery, the soil and rising water tables
in this area are not suitable for conventional septic systems.
It is common for families to have failing systems that cause
raw sewage to back up into their homes or into their yards. A
2017 peer-reviewed study found evidence of hookworm and other
tropical parasites in rural residents exposed to raw sewage.
Failing systems degrade people's quality of life, take a
toll on mental health, and cause economic harm by making it
difficult to attract businesses. Data gaps make it difficult to
understand the true extent of the problem and the people that
it affects. However, all communities do not equally share these
burdens. Low-income and rural areas are more likely to lack a
centralized wastewater treatment system and are
disproportionately affected by inadequate sanitation.
This underinvestment in sustainable infrastructure goes
back decades, and is being worsened by the climate crisis, as
we have heard today what is happening in Vermont and rural
towns across that State who have lost access not only to safe
drinking water but also to sanitation because of intense
flooding.
We can make America a model of ingenuity and have a
resilient infrastructure for everyone. The farm bill funds
several USDA programs that could help, including the Rural
Decentralized Water Systems Program. This program helps low-
and moderate-income families in rural areas finance the cost of
onsite assistance.
Senators Booker and Capito have introduced a bill to
reauthorize the program and make it work better. This bill is a
positive step toward addressing critical rural sanitation needs
across the Nation. A strengthened version of it should be
included in this year's farm bill, with the following
improvements.
One of the things that I really want to make sure I cover
this before I run out of time, all sanitation systems funded
with this program must be required to carry a warranty of up to
10 years. We know from experience that these systems fail
often. Manufacturers and installers need to be held accountable
instead of blaming rural residents. This is the only thing that
I know where people spend this kind of money, and it goes into
the ground, and if it fails the homeowners are blamed. Rural
America deserves better.
My written testimony has additional recommendations, and I
appreciate the opportunity to speak today, and I look forward
to continuing this conversation about sanitation equity for
all.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Flowers can be found on page
62 in the appendix.]
Senator Welch. Thank you very much.
Pauli Undesser.
STATEMENT OF PAULI UNDESSER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, WATER
QUALITY ASSOCIATION AND WATER QUALITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION,
LISLE, IL
Ms. Undesser. Thank you, Chairman Welch and Ranking Member
Tuberville and all of the members on the Subcommittee. Thank
you for inviting me to testify and be a synergistic resource as
you are working through your leadership on modernizing
community rural water systems. My name is Pauli Undesser, and I
am honored to be here and address the Subcommittee as the CEO
of the Water Quality Association and the Water Quality Research
Foundation.
WQA is a not-for-profit association that amplifies and
unites a voice of over 2,500 member companies, mostly
headquartered on U.S. soil, and employ hundreds of thousands of
workers. For over 75 years, our members have manufactured,
distributed, and installed water quality improvement solutions
in homes and in businesses. WQA upholds ethics and integrity
while serving as an educator for water treatment professionals,
a certifier for water treatment products, and an information
source for the public.
The Water Quality Research Foundation is the industry's
not-for-profit data-generating powerhouse that advances the
mission of water quality by sponsoring peer-reviewed academic
research.
Modernizing water systems, whether public, private, or
otherwise, is critical for millions of Americans across the
United States facing drinking water contamination from various
sources, including lead, arsenic, nitrates, PFAS, and others. I
applaud the Federal Government's recent efforts to combat these
concerns and ensure safer drinking water for all Americans.
Congress, through the leadership of this Subcommittee, should
continue these efforts in the 2023 Farm Bill to ensure that
rural communities are not left behind.
Congress, EPA, and the CDC have all recognized that point-
of-use and point-of-entry-technology are effective solutions.
Most options treating water closest to the point of consumption
can be installed faster than centralized treatment systems,
meaning people are protected sooner. More specifically, those
living in rural communities served by private wells, like me
and my family for the past 20 years, in-home solutions are
coveted as the proven solution to improved water quality.
USDA's Rural Development suite of Water and Environmental
Programs has been incredibly successful in improving the safety
of rural communities' drinking water, but more needs to be
done, more to educate residents on their water quality and more
to make funding available under current programs. By creating
new program offerings, USDA can provide flexibility for these
communities to leverage proven solutions. WQA strongly
encourages this Subcommittee to prioritize the implementation
of point-of-use and point-of-entry solutions as a key tool for
modernizing rural water systems.
WQA is particularly supportive of S. 806, which is known as
the Healthy H2O Act, and urges the Subcommittee to include this
essential legislation within the 2023 Farm Bill. This
bipartisan, bicameral legislation would provide grants to low-
and moderate-income households and licensed childcare
facilities in rural communities to conduct water quality
testing and to fund the purchase, installation, and maintenance
of water treatment solutions. These treatment solutions would
be required to meet national performance standards for any
contaminants identified during testing and installed service
maintained by qualified professionals.
The Healthy H2O Act already has the support of many
members, both from the House and Senate Agriculture Committees,
and we anticipate all Subcommittee members will be eager to
join supporting this bipartisan, commonsense solution.
Availability of high-quality drinking water is a
cornerstone for fortifying prosperous communities. It is of
critical importance for rural communities to be afforded the
same opportunity to enhance their quality of life through
reliable and affordable access to quality drinking water equal
to their urban and suburban counterparts. Technologies
installed closest to the point of consumption are crucial
components in this effort.
I thank the Subcommittee for your time, attention, and
thoughtful review of including the Healthy H2O Act in the 2023
Farm Bill. I am a subject matter expert for the betterment of
water quality, and I am available as a resource in your
leadership for modernizing rural water systems. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Undesser can be found on
page 70 in the appendix.]
Senator Welch. Thank you.
Robert White.
STATEMENT OF ROBERT N. WHITE IV, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALABAMA
RURAL WATER ASSOCIATION, MONTGOMERY, AL
Mr. White. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Welch,
Ranking Member Tuberville, and esteemed members of this
Committee. I am honored to be here today to offer my insights
on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Water
and Environmental Programs and their crucial technical
assistance initiatives which are integral for offering
affordable and sustainable services to rural America.
I would like to extend my gratitude to Senator Tuberville
for his invitation, and more importantly, his stalwart
leadership and advocacy for Alabama's rural water and
wastewater sector.
I serve as the Executive Director of the Alabama Rural
Water Association, a nonprofit organization that advocates for
small and rural water and wastewater systems across Alabama. I
am also here on behalf of the National Rural Water Association,
which represents over 31,000 rural systems throughout the
country.
Our rural systems have their roots in the 1960's Farmers
Home Administration, and they continue to benefit from
assistance and support from its successor agency, Rural
Development. If I may, I would like to express my gratitude to
this Committee for its unwavering commitment to these
successful initiatives.
USDA Rural Development, designed by Congress, is key to
supporting rural America, especially since 91 percent of the
Nation's water systems serve communities with less than 10,000
residents. Rural Development's mission is to expand and
modernize water infrastructure, and rural water provides the
critical technical assistance needed to sustain these services.
Many communities in Alabama have access to safe and
affordable water service today that their grandparents never
had, thanks to the resources authorized by this Committee.
Thank you.
I will now quickly review a few of our top priorities for
your consideration as you draft the 2023 Farm Bill.
First, the Circuit Rider program, established by this
Committee in 1980, is our pioneer initiative aimed at offering
solutions and hands-on support to rural communities. Water
Circuit Riders offer a wide range of onsite, hands-on
assistance and training.
On a national scale, last year alone Water Circuit Riders
made a direct impact on the health and safety of over 24
million individuals, constituting 41 percent of rural America.
Circuit Riders respond immediately to calls for assistance,
whether they concern disaster management, sourcing disinfection
supplies, design and construction advice, or system operation
and maintenance, to make sure water service is available every
second of every day. We humbly request this Committee
reauthorize this flagship program.
Second, the NRWA and State Rural Water Associations have
been at the forefront of emergency disaster response for
decades. Last year, during a historic cold front, Alabama
Circuit Riders were responding to utilities on Christmas Day,
finding and fixing leaks and distributing six truckloads of
bottled water to communities without water service, at no cost
to those utilities. We propose that this Committee consider
extending authorities to enhance preparedness activities to aid
systems in recovery outside the scope of immediate disaster
response and ensure a more resilient water sector.
Another ongoing project of note is the Closing America's
Wastewater Access Gap Community Initiative. ARWA has partnered
with USDA and EPA to mitigate wastewater issues in Lowndes and
Greene County, Alabama. This pilot project was announced in
White Hall, Alabama, last August, to introduce a variety of
wastewater treatment solutions for communities that lack
sufficient sewer service. The latest estimates indicate that
roughly $1.4 billion are needed to implement decentralized
wastewater treatment technologies and resolve individual septic
tank issues across Alabama's Black Belt alone.
Next I would like to discuss the latest cybersecurity
issues facing rural water. In Alabama, system regulatory
inspections occurring after October 1, 2023, will require a
cybersecurity audit. Unfortunately, given the scope and
complexity of cybersecurity, the reality is most rural
utilities lack the financial resources and in-house expertise
to secure themselves from cyber threats.
We suggest this Committee consider providing funding for
cybersecurity Circuit Riders to help rural water systems
protect their utility and its customers. We also recommend
modernizing the Rural Development Water and Wastewater Programs
to better address current utility needs with additional
affordable financing and servicing options. This should include
zero and one percent loans to disadvantaged or economically
distressed communities. EPA and the Rural Housing Service
already have similar authorities.
Finally, we recommend advancing voluntary consolidation of
rural communities by allowing a contiguous system to apply for
a grant or loan on behalf of a neighboring underserved
community. This authority show be narrow and ensure that the
additional subsidy is targeted entirely to the community in
need.
In summary, USDA's Rural Development Water and
Environmental Programs are critical in keeping rural America's
water and wastewater services areas economically viable while
also providing the resources to support underserved
communities. With the current backlog of around $4 billion,
demand remains high. ARWA and NRWA are honored to continue and
strengthen the successful partnership with USDA Rural
Development and this Committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. White can be found on page
364 in the appendix.]
Senator Welch. Thank you, and I want to thank all the
witnesses for their excellent testimony. I am the last Senator
before a vote closes so I am going to have to leave temporary
to vote, and I am going to turn the gavel over to Senator Cory
Booker, and I will be right back.
Senator Lujan. [Presiding.] Well, with that comes the
privilege to questions, I believe, so thank you, Mr. Chairman,
for letting me dig in there real quick as the gavel is going to
switch to another hand, so I am going to jump on this
opportunity.
My first question, Ms. Day, surrounds colonias, so I
appreciate you raising those as well. I appreciate the
testimony of Mr. White with the importance of being able to
apply for neighboring communities that may be in need as well
and how you can get them support. One of the challenges with
colonias is they are unincorporated communities, and so it is
hard to do that.
My question to you is, looking at New Mexico, specifically,
home to about 129 colonias--and for those that do not know what
they are, these are unincorporated communities. They often have
economic challenges. They are generally economically
distressed. They are along the U.S.-Mexico border, in the
United States, and they lack access to safe drinking and
sanitary wastewater systems. In 2022, USDA announced a $13
million investment to expand access into these areas, so we
support these and we appreciate them, specifically, as you
pointed out, Ms. Coleman Flowers, to colonias, rural and Tribal
communities as well.
These investments are vital to ensuring that at-risk
communities are able to take advantage of these funds. My
question to you, Ms. Day, is as colonias are unincorporated
they do not have a mayor or a council. Often they do not have a
voice in State or Federal Government. How can Federal programs
such as USDA Water and Environmental Program better catch our
colonias and rural communities so they do not fall through the
cracks when it comes to providing essential utilities?
Ms. Day. Thank you, Senator Lujan. I appreciate the
opportunity to talk to this. We know that this area, the
environmental impact of weather will continue to make this
issue worse for these communities. I know that when RCAP
technical assistance providers are working in a community we
are empowering them to make decisions on their own. We hear
often that we are giving them the tools that they need and then
they are using those tools.
In colonias we are looking at continued technical
assistance and funding. It is critical to maintain those water
systems. We are often there when boards transition after a big
project, so for us it feels like that is the place that we can
have the most impact is helping even communities that are
underfunded continue to find a way forward. We will be there
for 10 years if that is what it takes.
Senator Lujan. I appreciate that. Ms. Coleman Flowers, you
mentioned colonias as well in your testimony. Do you have some
thoughts to the question that I presented to Ms. Day?
Ms. Flowers. Yes, and I think that first of all a lot of
people do not know what the colonias are and they do not know
they are there, aver 2,177 communities from Texas to
California. A lot of these areas are dealing with the same
problems that we see in Lowndes County, Alabama, and I think
that there should be more of an emphasis on that. As the Co-
Chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council
my suggestion to everybody--just as when I first met Senator
Booker I invited him to come to Lowndes County to see for
himself--I think that the only way we can even come up with
positive solutions to those areas is going to visit and convene
people in those communities to try to get this work done.
I know that in California, for an example, they have just
instituted a program where they are trying to find out how many
people are on septic or do not have systems at all, so that
they can come up with policies and ways in which to address
this. I think one of the ways we can do this is to fund USDA to
actually do the type of studies or collect that data to close
those gaps so that policymakers can make the type of policies
to address these issues.
Senator Lujan. I appreciate that. I have some other
questions, but I will submit them into the record. I am
reminded, to your testimony, Ms. Coleman Flowers, you cannot
unsee what your eyes show you, and it is the power of seeing
and feeling because you understand people's stories and plights
as well when you go down there and see for yourself. I thank
you for that reminder. I yield back.
Senator Booker. [Presiding.] By the power vested in me by
Senator Welch I hereby decree that Senator Braun shall go next.
Senator Braun. Thank you, Senator Booker. I have gotten
water, ever since I moved back to my hometown, from a rural
water district, Patoka Lake, an Army Corps lake. Several
utilities get water from it. I am not sure about it, but at
least 10 places across our State we have had PFAS showing up in
the water at levels above the Federal guidelines.
Ms. Undesser, you talked about that. How can these rural
districts use point-of-use and point-of-entry systems? Is that
economically viable for them to address an issue that I think
we are all going to be more worried about in the future?
Ms. Undesser. Thank you, Senator Braun. I appreciate the
question. PFAS is very complex. It is a moving target, adding
new compounds all the time. However, one thing that is great to
know today is that there are solutions that are certified
products that can remove specific PFAS compounds, and those
products can be installed in rural water communities by
qualified individuals that would take care of the installation,
service, and maintenance of those as well.
The solutions are available today. The Healthy H2O Act
would help in the areas of low- to moderate-income areas where
having access to reliable and affordable technologies is a real
challenge. Including that in the farm bill is something that
will be key going forward.
Senator Braun. Then another question for you and then Mr.
White. Oftentimes I hear that there are guidelines, regulations
in actually building out a water system that are difficult. I
would like each of you to maybe talk about the one or two that
you would hear most often about, whether it makes sense, or
whether they are over-burdening, and apply it again to the
smaller water districts that might not have the resources to
navigate through all of that.
Ms. Undesser. As the Water Quality Association, the biggest
burdens we hear about when it comes to creating a new
centralized system is the time to get the solutions in and the
costs to be able to get the solutions there as well. But, there
are certified products and decentralized solutions that are
able to do things today, and in a timely manner as well.
Senator Braun. Mr. White, is the regulatory framework that
we have got in place, does it hit the sweet spot, making sure
that we adhere to them, or are there any instances where it is
over the top?
Mr. White. There are definitely challenges with some of the
regulations. Lead in drinking water, getting the lead out, that
is one that many water systems are struggling to kind of wrap
their hands around as far as how they are going to address this
and get the resources into the local systems and be able to put
those into the field.
PFAS is another emerging contaminant that is causing a lot
of questions and consternation with rural water systems
especially. As this emerging contaminant is found within
various water sources, it is very costly to remove these
chemicals. Some of the rural systems just simply would likely
not have the capacity to be able to implement upgrades required
in order to remove those chemicals.
Senator Braun. Is there something beyond remediating
contaminants? I am talking about just the general construction
of water systems. Or do you feel that the guidelines we give
when we cost-share here, is it reasonable in terms of actually
building out a water system in the first place?
Mr. White. I believe so. One of the largest problems that
we have in Alabama, and I am sure across the Nation, is supply
chain disruptions. We work with a lot of systems, trying to get
projects designed and get funding from, say, USDA or SRF into
the community. The project have been extended for months and
months. The turnaround time on these has just been extended out
years in some cases, and the cost is ever-increasing.
Oftentimes we get the project obligated and by the time we put
those funds out for bid to the communities, those cost overruns
are to the extent that they have to go back to USDA, apply for
more money to even complete the project that was originally
designed.
Senator Braun. Thank you.
Senator Booker. I will go next because I have got the gavel
and Mr. Tuberville is a generous man. Thank you, sir.
First of all, I am grateful for the Ranking Member and the
Chairman for holding this Committee. I cannot tell you about
the urgency, and I think it was reflected in a lot of the
comments that were made beforehand. I am, frankly, when I
finally started doing the research when I got into the Senate I
did not realize how much of a crisis many areas of our Nation
have by just having not access to clean water or to septic
systems.
I was telling the Ranking Member that my roots go down into
Alabama, and I owe that State so much of my life. When I went
down to meet with you, Catherine, when you challenged me to
come down and actually see for yourself, I was really stunned.
It started because I was meeting with a doctor who was telling
me that we have these tropical diseases that many doctors do
not know exist in many areas of this country that have these
kinds of straight piping because they have no septic systems or
wastewater systems at all. When you see it for yourself and you
meet with people who are struggling with this, it just makes
you think it is a shame of our Nation, a nation this strong,
this powerful, this wealthy, that could not do something about
it.
That is why I am glad this is a bipartisan issue, which is
reflected in the comments from all the witnesses as well as
from many of my colleagues. I have had the privilege of working
with Senator Capito, who has been a great partner, in
addressing these issues, and we were able to create authority
for the USDA to provide loans and grants to low-income
households to install individual wastewater systems.
Now in the upcoming farm bill, Senator Capito and I are
looking to make improvements to the program that we were able
to get established, and I am going to direct my questions to,
sincerely, one of my great American heroes. Catherine, you have
inspired me more than you know, and I am just grateful.
One of the changes that Senator Capito and I are pushing
for in the farm bill is for a program to provide funding for
warranties to accompany these septic systems. Can you talk
about the warranties and why they are so important?
Ms. Flowers. Yes. Thank you, Senator Booker.
Senator Booker. She calls me Cory when we are not in
public.
Ms. Flowers. Yes. I cannot do that today. It is very
important because what happens is once a septic system is put
in--and we paid for a lot of them in Lowndes County--the
liability is transferred to the homeowner. When they fail, the
homeowner has to fix it, and a lot of them cannot afford to do
that.
We are finding, not just in Alabama but across the country,
these systems are failing within two years, and some of them,
when they do fail, it is very costly to fix, and people do not
fix it. That is when they start straight-piping or they do
something else to come up with some remedy that is not legal in
order to make sure that the sewage does not come back into
their homes. When they come back into their homes it comes back
either through a bathtub, it can come back through a sink. I
mean, those of us that are pet owners know that a dog would not
sleep on a bed that has been fouled. Why do we expect humans to
live that way?
I think the only way we can really change the way this
works is to have warranties in place. It can inspire research
and development and improvement. I mean, I am old enough to
know when a car would not last more than two years, but when we
had competition and we had to look at cars that were being made
in other countries that were lasting longer, American cars got
better too. Likewise with warranty systems for these wastewater
systems, that people have to have.
I spoke with Ranking Member Tuberville earlier. He talked
about the importance of water. Sanitation is also important and
is a part of water, and we have to have that for health and
safety.
Having these warranties in place, I think, would ensure
health and safety for all homeowners, and certainly those in
rural communities that should not be left to fix this on their
own.
Senator Booker. Thank you, Catherine. I had a brief brush
with power, which I am not about to lose to the great Senator
Welch. I did not even get to slam the gavel down. I will ask
you just one more question before I surrender the position I
have, that has most of the people here in awe.
Despite authorizing both grants and loans, we know that the
USDA has administered this program strictly as a loan program.
Now the folk I saw in Alabama, and now have seen in other
places, are not the folks that can really afford these
programs. Can you talk to me a little bit about how important
it is that low-income households, which are usually the
households affected, receive grants to install these systems?
Ms. Flowers. Yes. I think that is a very important point,
not only low-income households but also for a lot of the
communities. When I first got involved doing this work I
remember talking with Senator Sessions years ago about why
rural communities, although the money was available, could not
get it because they could not come up with a match. Likewise
with loans. A lot of these families are struggling. They cannot
afford that. Everybody in this country, I believe that we are a
great nation, and we everybody in this country should have the
right to sanitation, and they should not be able to be without
it simply because they cannot afford a loan. That is why grants
would be very important to a lot of poor families across the
U.S.
Senator Booker. Mr. Chairman, Catherine said that
eloquently, but I had this wonderful, beautiful moment with
Senator Shelby, in the gym of all places. He and I used to work
at odd times and became really good friends because we were the
only two people in the gym, and nobody was there to make fun of
how little work we were doing in the gym. When I told him about
your problem, Catherine, he said the exact same thing, that
these are good folk that should have what is basic and did a
lot on his position to deal with the issue. I am glad that we
have Alabama Senators that have the same heart to address these
issues and that this has been such a bipartisan space for me to
work in, and I am just really grateful. Thank you, Mr. powerful
Chairman.
Senator Welch. [Presiding.] Thank you, and by the way, I
want to acknowledge the letter that you are working on to get
data that we need in order to focus where we need to have the
allocation of resources. Thank you very much, and I look
forward to working with you on that.
Senator Tuberville.
Senator Tuberville. I yield to my colleague, Senator Cindy
Hyde-Smith.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you very much because I do have a
couple of questions, and thank you for hosting this important
meeting. Thank you for coming to testify. This is so valuable
to hear from folks, and I know sometimes it is hard to come up
here and do that. It takes a lot of time, and I just appreciate
your willingness to do that.
Mr. White, the Rural Water Association provides so much
technical service that is very valuable for the training of our
small utility providers. When the tornadoes blew through
Mississippi just a couple of months ago, the Rural Water
Association responded instantly to help. You know, they were so
knowledgeable.
You have already talked about this some, the Circuit Rider
program. Can you kind of elaborate on that, like in disasters
such as this tornado, how valuable it is and how the
communities benefit so much from this technical support?
Mr. White. Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for the
opportunity. In Rural Water we have a robust emergency response
program, and it exists across the Nation. National Rural Water
is a leader overall in emergency response, and the States
joined together to support that effort. The States, we actually
own and operate a lot of our own equipment--generators, bypass
pumps, and just a variety of equipment that we pull together in
times of need.
Even now, the flooding in Vermont, my counterpart, Liz
Royer, I know she has got her team out responding to systems
now, and she knows that if she needs assistance she would be
able to reach out to our national network of emergency
responders, and we will show up when necessary.
One additional resource that would be very helpful, from
this Committee and the farm bill, is building upon the
emergency response network. Having a Circuit Rider that could
be dedicated to emergency response would be invaluable to the
States across the Nation. Right now we can respond to disasters
as they occur. When the tornadoes occur we move our teams in.
We help get those communities put back together as quickly as
possible and bridge the time where those communities will be
without commercial power so that we can set generators and keep
the water plants up and running so people can cleanup and move
forward while the commercial power industries get those
resources put together for the communities.
In times of blue sky, we refer to, there is a lot of work
that can be done that we generally cannot focus on in those
days. If we had the resourcing ability to have a full-time
Circuit Rider position that could go around and network with
State and Federal agencies, work with the communities, ensure
that they have all of their hazard requirements on hazard
mitigation lists and county emergency networks, those are
required for when a disaster moves through the community for
the community to be able to access the money that immediately
precedes that disaster.
In addition, the administrative efforts are quite intense
for any community that is going through a disaster, and to be
able to support tracking all of the expenses and filing all the
required documents with the appropriate agencies afterwards in
order to get money that is made available back into the
community and not leave any of that on the table would be of
huge benefit to those rural systems.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Thank you very much because we sure
benefited from it then. You know, I understand in your
testimony that work force recruitment and development is a
challenge for Rural Water Associations. I am really passionate
about keeping young people in rural areas, but we have got to
provide something for them. One way to do that is promoting and
encouraging careers and technical education to help us out
here. It is great to see the Water Apprenticeship Program in
Mississippi. It is taking off down there.
How can Congress help ensure these work force challenges
are met in rural America's water industry, particularly when it
comes to recruitment and with training and retention, and
keeping these people here?
Mr. White. Yes, thank you. The apprenticeship program is
growing, and we are certainly proud of it. Alabama is one of
the 34 States now that have developed an apprenticeship
program. We have recently started ours. We are looking for our
first graduate next April, so hopefully that will go smooth.
Additionally, just continuing to support the resources that
are available now with training that is offered through the
technical assistance provisions in the farm bill is a huge
asset to rural water systems throughout the country, really.
The apprenticeship program is going to continue to grow. It
gives us the opportunity to promote the industry where we have
not been able to before. In Alabama we are going to engage in
career centers and be able to get the word out to people so
that they can engage with our industry in a proactive manner.
Then also provide a structured platform to move those people
from curious about water and wastewater work into the career
that we all know it could be, a very rewarding career.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Another thing that has been discussed a
lot is the challenges that communities face when navigating the
funding application process. You know, we get calls on that for
water and wastewater projects, and we may want to talk about
that. I know my time is out right now, if you will indulge, but
how can the administrative burden for small and rural water
communities be alleviated when participating in the USDA
funding programs for water and wastewater projects? We are
going to have to be fast because I am a minute over.
Mr. White. I will try to be quick. The most success that we
have in the State, when rural communities reach out and they
are looking to apply to USDA for a project, is we will send a
team out. They will go and they can help kind of navigate and
cut a lot of the red tape, or the initial burden of engaging
with USDA's online RD Apply system, for instance. There are a
few complications in there that are required. They have to be
registered with SAM.gov, and sometimes there can be some back
and forth. In fact, that one can be difficult at times.
Having the technical assistance available to be able to
move into a community, get all the registrations registered,
get the team pulled together, and then have to have an e-
authentication credential in order to engage with the system,
the individual roles have to be set up, you have got to bring
the engineers in, the accountants, and all of that to the
table.
Having the technical resource able to come in and help
organize and get all that together so that we could kick the
project off, or the application off, seems to be of great
assistance to those communities.
Senator Hyde-Smith. Makes sense. Thank you very much, and
we have five votes going on, so I apologize that the table
looks empty. They just called the second vote, and I am going
to go vote. Thank you.
Senator Welch. Thank you very much.
Mr. Duncan, I appreciate the help you are giving us in
Vermont to assess what the damage has been. Do we need to make
any changes to give USDA more flexibility to upgrade the
resilience factors to accommodate the reality of the more
extreme weather events that are occurring?
Mr. Duncan. Yes. You know, my take on things is to always
look to find proactive ways to do things as opposed to the
reactive ways, and I think that USDA Rural Development can play
a role in doing that. I know EPA has a ``CREAT'' I believe they
call it, for climate resiliency evaluation tool.
What you are looking for is those small communities that do
not know where to begin at all with any of this, let alone the
aging infrastructure needs that they have, they do not really
have a sense of where to go, so planning assistance is very
valuable there. That also applies for how to understand where
their weak points are in their system when it comes to any kind
of extreme weather event, and how to prepare for that, whether
it is a large infrastructure investment or whether it is a
small infrastructure investment. Providing the technical
resources to allow for that, to get ahead of it, in my mind is
a way that USDA Rural Development, through their Water and
Environment programs, can play a role in making sure that as
extreme events do occur, we are more buffered and----
Senator Welch. By the way, does that also get to where the
Circuit Riders are able to provide that kind of support and
help that small communities do not have the resources for?
Mr. Duncan. Yes, that is correct. I mean, the Circuit
Riders in Vermont, I know, and it sounds very similar for Bob
White in Alabama and I am sure in the rest of the rural water
world, where those Circuit Riders are out there talking about
not only the day-to-day stuff but, especially in Vermont I know
it will be a big topic for a while, on how can we avoid this in
the future and what can we be doing to----
Senator Welch. Let me ask you. You mentioned bonding, and
it is a really big deal for communities to have to assess
themselves when they already feel overtaxed, and you cannot
spread that out. What are the concrete suggestions you would
make? Because what I understand is the apprehension people have
that the bond amount is not going to cover the cost of the
project, so they are reluctant to vote for something where they
do not know what the bottom line is going to be. What could we
do to address that?
Mr. Duncan. At least in Vermont, the way that is handled is
a first come, first served basis for USDA Rural Development
loan and grant funding, and obviously the grant funding element
is based upon median household income and your rates where they
stand. What happens is USDA Rural Development will give you an
estimate of what they believe their loan and grant package will
be, at which point the users of the system have to conduct a
bond vote to try and pass the financial will of the system to
cover that loan amount. Then you have to put the application in
and hope that the package that they told you that you might get
will actually be there and available for you when you actually
get the application into them. Providing certainty is key.
Senator Welch. Thank you.
Ms. Coleman Flowers, you said that there should be a 10-
year warranty. That actually makes a lot of sense to me. I
mean, what has been the practice for folks who put money out,
and they come together to do it, it is a big decision, and they
want to get that problem solved. Is it the standard practice
that there is no warranty for the construction and building of
these systems?
Ms. Flowers. Well, we were engaged in discussions with some
manufacturers early on. This is actually prior to COVID, and we
talked about this. Right now the warranties, generally, through
some home warranty companies, the homeowner has to take the
responsibility themselves. Some insurance companies will cover
it. Why is it transferred from the manufacturers? I think there
should be a manufacturer's warranty. That is the only thing
that is going to encourage research and development and
improvement.
Why it is like that, I do not know, but for something that
is so important we need to change it.
Senator Welch. All right. You know, I listened to you,
Senator Tuberville. One of the things I thought I heard you say
was trying to target that money to the places that need it the
most, in the rural areas. Maybe you could comment on that, Ms.
Flowers.
Ms. Flowers. Yes. I think that in terms of rural
communities there are numerous ways in which we should look at
how we get money to them. I think I heard my colleagues today
talk about the challenges of getting to these communities,
these funds. A lot of funds are available now, but they need
the technical assistance to be able to access it. I think that
we need to come up with a process in which--when I first got
started doing this work, over 20 years ago, there was a USDA
office that was open in Lowndes County, where someone came at
least once a week. Now that person is no longer there, and
people have to travel long distances. I think we have to find a
way in which to make it accessible to people in rural
communities where they can get these funds.
We also have to keep in mind that part of the problem, too,
is a lot of these communities do not have broadband. If you
have to register for SAMS.gov in order to even apply for the
funds, that is the first hassle, to get to the funds.
We have to make sure that rural communities, a lot of these
gaps are closed, not just the wastewater gap but a lot of these
gaps are closed in rural communities so they can get access to
technical assistance that you do make available.
Senator Welch. Thank you. Just to let you know, Senator
Tuberville and I have made it a major priority about broadband
in rural America for this Committee to focus on, so thank you
for that.
Ms. Day, I want to ask you a little bit about the Technical
Assistance Program. You have done a great job on that. How do
the TA providers help communities before and after the natural
disasters? You know, we are having one right now, but can you
just elaborate a bit on that?
Ms. Day. Thank you, yes. There are emergency response plans
and vulnerability assessments that are part of the USDA loan
requirements. USDA helps us to get those done in the
communities so that these planning documents that might have
been sitting on a shelf, actually we take them down, we work
through them with the community, and make sure that they are
up-to-date and accurate and are a viable document to work on
pre and post disasters.
Senator Welch. How can we be developing some more
managerial capacity? Senator Hyde-Smith was asking about the
training and the availability of a work force, and we want to
have opportunities for young people who would like to stay in a
rural community or come there, to be able to have a good job.
How do we do that?
Ms. Day. We will take any opportunity to work on work force
development. We have some foundation work and some other work
that we have been able to combine together to really raise the
position of these water operators in the communities. I work on
so many consent orders, when I started in this field, for the
elderly manager of the system, who was a volunteer, who was
operating a system without the correct licenses.
There is a lot that can be done around regionalization, and
if there are some more planning dollars available to help the
small, disadvantaged communities who are strapped anyway,
without accurate coverage for operators, then those larger
systems could actually do eligibility criteria too, to get the
grants from USDA, because the smaller system is probably more
eligible for grants, and then that can work to bring the lack
of operators that we have, making sure that there are more of
them to go around.
Senator Welch. Thank you.
Senator Tuberville, and take the time you want. I went over
a little bit.
Senator Tuberville. No problem.
Senator Welch. I do not want to shortchange you.
Senator Tuberville. No problem. The problem we are having,
obviously, in the rural areas too is educating, getting enough
people educated to do the work in the rural areas. Urban areas
are fine. You know, they will struggle, but we are really
struggling in the rural areas.
I am going to ask everybody this one question, in 20
seconds or more. Just do not make it long, if you have got a
perspective on this. What is the most critical element in
ensuring the operation of safe public drinking water supply?
Rob, what do you think the most critical element is?
Mr. White. I would say the most critical element would be
your trained operators who have to oversee these systems and
actually put in place, abide by all the regulations, and create
the plans, and assess the systems, make sure that the system is
rehabilitated when necessary and has a plan to move forward,
and remains in compliance and within the regulatory bounds
every day.
Senator Tuberville. Ms. Undesser.
Ms. Undesser. The most critical item as far as looking at
safe public drinking water supply certainly is how do we think
about water differently going forward. It is a complex world,
and it only getting more complex as we are sitting here right
now. We really need to think differently and really leverage
all of our solutions that are out there.
Senator Tuberville. Keep it simple, stupid, right? That is
what we need.
Ms. Flowers.
Ms. Flowers. I think that the most critical element, if we
are under-resourced and underserved communities, is access to
funding.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you. Mr. Duncan.
Mr. Duncan. The answer is definitely trained operators, but
playing off of that a little bit is having the resources for
those operators, being able to give them technical assistance
as well as being able to allow them to plan for how to manage
and operate the infrastructure that they have to work with and
keep in good condition, whether it is something that is aging
and knowing when to make those changes and having the
investments to do so or whether it is understanding the risks,
both cyber, climate, and whatever, to be able to address the
needs and create a sustainable water future.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you. Ms. Day.
Ms. Day. I would add educated and informed board members
who actually run the systems and make the decisions, that they
are informed about the technical aspects of running the
wastewater and water system.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you. Mr. White, 91 percent of our
Nation's water systems serve communities with populations of
10,000 or less. I said that in my opening statement. In
Alabama, 75 percent of the people we serve are 10,000 or less.
In your experience, what suggestions do you believe could
improve program operations and services for small system
operators? Do not say money either. I do not want to hear that.
[Laughter.]
Mr. White. Well, that was the short answer, is money.
Well, one thing I would like to comment on is what is
working now, what is available under the farm bill and the
resources that are being utilized, at least in the State of
Alabama. We have three water Circuit Riders, we have two
wastewater specialists, an energy efficiency technician,
numerous training staff, all working together, a source water
assessment person. They all work together every day within all
of the rural communities in Alabama to put in place all of
these resources and technical assistance.
We meet regularly. Our partnerships with USDA, locally,
within the State, are strong. We meet quarterly with USDA, SRF,
ADECA, other funding partners, and provide technical assistance
reports, and we really get around the table and hammer out all
of the concerns for the water and wastewater systems in
Alabama. Those partnerships are critical, and they really help
bring everybody to the table, and we do not duplicate work.
That way we can find the targeted resources for those areas.
To improve, I would say giving USDA more flexibilities. The
financing options that were discussed in my written testimony,
that would be critical in helping some of the rural, poorer
areas in Alabama, being able to have the zero and one percent
loans, refinancing options. That would help Uniontown, that we
are working with on the west side of Alabama now, if we had
that opportunity.
Additional authorities for addressing cybersecurity and
more resources for emergency response would also be helpful.
Senator Tuberville. Ms. Day, can you answer that one?
Mr. Duncan. Day or Duncan?
Senator Tuberville. Either one of you. Have at it. Hey, I
have got all time. I am the last one.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Duncan. Well, thank you. You know, I think the funding
alternatives are definitely a way to do it, if you are looking
at it without additional moneys to throw in there. I do think a
shift in the paradigm is critical in how we operate our
facilities today. The run-to-failure mode is where we are at,
so whatever abilities and resources can be put toward systems,
especially those small systems. I think if you went and talked
to any operator in any small system, in any State around the
country, they would tell you what their problems are. They do
not have the capacity, knowing what they know that needs to be
addressed, nor the ability to go and address it.
Continuing to promote the Circuit Rider program to help
them find that path forward, education to boards, and education
and promoting the value of water is also critical because it is
one of the cheapest utilities out there with the highest value
in life, but yet we undervalue it incredibly.
Anything along those lines, absent actual money, would be
the way to go forward, I think, in helping to give those
operators, as well as the system owners, which is the public,
an understanding of how to create systems that will be more
resilient going forward, will be more affordable to run. Any of
those tools in the toolbox that can be promoted within the USDA
WEP program are critical, in my mind.
Senator Tuberville. I have got one last question, and I
would like all of you to answer it, kind of like the first one,
kind of short. Let's start with Ms. Day. All these natural
disasters we are having, how do we prepare for those for our
water system? In your mind. I mean, because we are having more
and more. We are having hurricanes, tornadoes, what we saw in
Vermont this week, it is a disaster, and we have to have water.
How do we prepare for that?
Ms. Day. We plan. I have to say that the USDA
predevelopment dollars for the really small, rural,
disadvantaged systems are the only predevelopment dollars that
are available to them, and they cannot do a feasibility study
without that. Vermont does a good job with SRF dollars getting
out to those small communities, but not every State does. They
may have an idea of what to do to make their system better, but
they need that $35,000 of predevelopment to actually make a
change in the system. Thank you.
Senator Tuberville. Mr. Duncan.
Mr. Duncan. The No. 1 answer, in my mind, is stop fighting
Mother Nature and taking a look and understanding climate
change. One of the things that is a real challenge is a lot of
our systems are built in lowland areas, at least in Vermont, so
it is a real challenge. That is not going to change overnight,
but taking a look at what the risks and liabilities are
associated with each of those different events that come at us,
and then identifying paths to resiliency and redundancy is
really the only way to move that forward, as opposed to keep
getting knocked down and standing back up and taking it on the
chin again.
Senator Tuberville. Ms. Flowers.
Ms. Flowers. You know, I actually live in Tornado Alley in
north Alabama.
Senator Tuberville. I know you do.
Ms. Flowers. We had a tornado last night. I think that,
first of all, planning, and then in terms of dealing with
resilience, we have to have resilient infrastructure. I agree.
We cannot build the way that we have built before and think
things are going to change. Things are actually getting worse.
Building a more resilient system. Just an example of a system
that was built, this was in an urban area, and they did not
prepare for the lights going out. When the lights went out,
then the wastewater treatment stopped, and then the communities
were flooded with raw sewage.
I think we have to start looking at what we could probably
do in terms of renewable energy, to use it as a backup energy
source for when the power goes out, to make sure that we can
continue to have water and sanitation.
Senator Tuberville. Ms. Undesser.
Ms. Undesser. Thank you. I absolutely echo the resiliency
planning. That is No. 1. I would add on to it the emergency
planning as well, and making sure that those emergency plans
leverage all solutions that are available, and again, that we
think differently about it rather than just kind of staying in
the lane, but how do we leverage all of the solutions that are
available to us?
Senator Tuberville. Rob.
Mr. White. I would say training and partnerships. We need
to continue to train. It is ongoing. There are new resources
and regulations that come around each year. Plus the work force
is changing, so new folks get into those administrative
positions, making sure they are aware of what is available to
them. Then partnerships with not only Federal and State
agencies and resources but do you know your neighbor systems.
Do you have mutual aid agreements with those? Do you know your
access to resources through our associate members, companies
that are in the State that can maybe go ahead and prepare a
contract for service during an emergency so you can lock in
prices and ensure that you have a number of items available to
you during that time?
That is what I would say, training and partnerships.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you all for being here. It has
been very good.
Senator Welch. Yes, it has been an excellent hearing. Thank
you. You know, as our country is facing these wild weather
events, climate change, more severe and frequent storms, we
have got to make sure that the water in our communities is safe
and available. That is true particularly in rural communities
of color and rural economically disadvantaged communities. They
often struggle with robust water infrastructure and are very
vulnerable to the effects of these wild climate-induced storms.
Climate resilience and equity have to be very much at the
forefront of our efforts.
I look forward to continuing to work with all of you. You
know, you are doing like real work, practical work, and our job
is to try to help get you the resources that you need in order
to help our communities back home. We have a hard job, but you
have a harder job. I just want to acknowledge that and express
to you the gratitude that I think every member of this
Committee has for the work you are doing back home. We all
really deeply care about rural America. That is what kind of
binds this Committee and makes it one of the most nonpartisan,
bipartisan committees in Congress. Thank you.
The record will remain open for five business days for any
members that wish to submit any additional questions or
statements, and the meeting is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:27 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
=======================================================================
A P P E N D I X
July 19, 2023
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
=======================================================================
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
July 19, 2023
=======================================================================
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]