[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 4, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E23]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        SAFE DRINKING WATER FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES ACT OF 2005

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                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 4, 2005

  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce the Safe Drinking 
Water for Healthy Communities Act of 2005. This legislation will 
require the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a national 
primary standard for drinking water for perchlorate, a component of 
rocket fuel used heavily by the military and its defense contractors.
  Communities across the country are finding perchlorate in their 
drinking water, groundwater, irrigation water, soil and food. 
Perchlorate has been linked to disruption of the thyroid, resulting in 
behavior changes and delayed development in children and thyroid tumors 
in adults. Today more than 120 wells in Los Angeles County have been 
found to be contaminated with varying levels of perchlorate and my 
community alone faces costs of at least $200 million over the next 15 
years to manage and contain perchlorate.
  Perchlorate removes valuable water supplies from service and can 
contaminate our food supply. Yet there exists no enforceable public 
health standard to ensure our drinking water is safe and to prevent 
further contamination. At the current rate the Environmental Protection 
Agency has stated it could not begin to promulgate a public health 
standard for perchlorate until 2007, if it chooses to do so. Ultimately 
it is the responsibility of Congress to make sure that the public can 
trust its water supply, that water providers have guidance, and that 
those responsible for contamination know that contaminating the water 
supply and threatening public health is not acceptable.
  This bill requires the EPA to establish an enforceable national 
primary drinking water standard by July, 2007. Without this, there is 
no requirement for water to have safe levels of perchlorate and water 
providers will continue to struggle with guaranteeing long term 
reliability of safe water sources. Inaction poses an unreasonable risk 
to both our valuable water supply and our health.

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