[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 48 (Thursday, April 28, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               THE SAFE DRINKING WATER REFORM ACT OF 1994

                                 ______


                            HON. MIKE SYNAR

                              of oklahoma

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 28, 1994

  Mr. SYNAR. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to join with my 
distinguished colleagues, Representative Blanche Lambert and 
Representative Gerry Studds, in introducing the Safe Drinking Water 
Reform Act of 1994. Currently State and local governments are facing 
enormous difficulties in complying with the new and more stringent 
requirements of the 1986 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. 
This problem is especially acute in small communities which lack 
sufficient funds and technical expertise necessary to comply with many 
of the act's requirements.
  My Subcommittee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources recently 
held a hearing on the difficulties facing small water systems, like 
those in my rural northeast Oklahoma district, and on ways to address 
drinking water problems sensibly and cost-effectively while maintaining 
public health protection. Witnesses at the hearing testified that five 
major problems underlie small drinking water system compliance 
problems: Lack of adequate funding; lack of alternative technologies 
appropriate for small systems; the need for reform of monitoring 
requirements so that systems test only for those contaminants they 
reasonably expect to pose health threats; inadequate technical and 
financial assistance to meet water system needs; and lack of financial, 
managerial or technical capacity necessary for many small systems to 
maintain compliance with the act. Mr. Speaker, our bill is designed to 
address each one of these issues without jeopardizing public health in 
any way.
  First, our bill creates a drinking water State revolving fund [SRF] 
to provide loans and grants to local water systems to help them comply 
with statutory requirements. As you know, Congress has appropriated 
$599 million for a drinking water SRF, but has not yet passed 
authorizing legislation for the SRF.
  The Safe Drinking Water Reform Act of 1994 also directs EPA to 
establish cost-effective best available technology [BAT] for small 
systems that are unable to meet maximum contaminant level requirements 
in the same manner as larger systems.
  Perhaps most importantly for small systems struggling to pay for 
sometimes excessive or unnecessary contaminant monitoring, our 
legislation would expand existing waiver authorities by also allowing 
the States to provide monitoring relief to local water systems once 
they have established local drinking water pollution prevention 
programs. Drinking water systems in Massachusetts have been able to 
avoid spending millions of dollars on unnecessary contaminant 
monitoring costs by investing only a fraction of that amount in 
prevention programs and receiving monitoring waivers in return. This 
pollution prevention approach will go a long way toward ensuring safe 
drinking water for all Americans in the future, and will allow water 
systems to focus their scarce resources on needed improvements.
  Importantly, this legislation improves the process for selecting new 
contaminants for regulation by eliminating the law's current 
requirement to regulate 25 contaminants every 3 years. Instead, our 
bill reguires EPA to regulate those contaminants that present the 
greatest threat to the public, taking risk reduction benefits and costs 
into account.
  Our legislation offers technical assistance and will ensure enhanced 
health protection for drinking water consumers. For example, the bill 
requires EPA to distinguish between small, medium, and large systems 
and to set appropriate technologies which meet Federal maximum 
contaminant level requirements for each. In addition, the bill requires 
that operators of water systems be trained and certified and that 
systems conduct internal inspections of drinking water operations.
  Finally, our bill creates and funds State programs to ensure that 
small water systems are financially and technically capable of 
providing safe drinking water to their customers over the long term.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasize that we have worked hard to avoid 
creating any unfunded mandates and to incorporate risk reduction 
benefits and cost considerations wherever possible without sacrificing 
public health protection. We intend for this bill to make commonsense 
changes to a statute that has become overly burdensome and 
prescriptive, and to provide States and small drinking water systems 
the flexibility they desperately need. We look forward to working with 
Health and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Waxman, Representative Jim 
Slattery, the minority and other members of the committee to craft and 
enact a meaningful reform of the Safe Drinking Water Act this year.

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