[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE WATER PROTECTION AND REINVESTMENT ACT

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                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 1, 2012

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more essential to 
quality of life, to the health of our families and of our communities 
than water. Water is life. Safe drinking water and basic sanitation 
make the difference between health and sickness, between a family 
thriving or struggling just to exist.
  Water quality and quantity are serious issues in communities across 
the country, especially now, when changing weather patterns, extreme 
drought, continued growth combine to put an even greater demand on our 
aging, inadequate infrastructure. To ease these pressures, I am 
introducing the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act, which would 
establish a trust fund to help local communities meet their water 
infrastructure needs.
  Over a thousand communities across the country are struggling with 
combined sewer overflows as well as inadequate and aging sewer pipes. 
Small communities in particular, which already face huge questions of 
water supply and quality, have few resources with which to pay the 
bills and are seeing sky-high monthly costs for consumers.
  The Water Protection and Reinvestment Act creates a deficit-neutral, 
consistent, and firewalled trust fund to help states replace, repair, 
and rehabilitate critical wastewater treatment facilities. It will be 
financed by assessing small fees on a broad base of those who use water 
and contribute to pollution: water-based beverages, items disposed of 
in wastewater, and pharmaceuticals, which often wind up in wastewater 
systems.
  The materials that flow into sewer systems and then into rivers and 
streams present unprecedented challenges to our water infrastructure. 
More and more products are designed to be flushed down toilets and 
drains, placing them in systems that are already stressed. 
Pharmaceutical residues are showing up in treated wastewater and 
because they are difficult to treat, I'm afraid we are slowly 
medicating vast numbers of Americans against their will. Aging water 
systems--some still made out of brick or wood, some dating from the 
century before last--mean that America also faces old-fashioned system 
reliability issues. Reports indicate that each year an average of six 
billion gallons of drinking water leaks from these inadequate and 
ancient pipes. Six billion gallons is enough to fill 6,000 Olympic 
sized swimming pools--if lined up, these pools would stretch from 
Washington, DC to Pittsburgh, PA.
  These aging and outdated systems are not just a local problem, 
relevant only to a single neighborhood, city, county, or even state. 
Water does not obey county boundaries or even state lines, and it is a 
resource on which we all rely. The Federal Government should help fill 
the funding gaps that local communities and States cannot. The 
opportunity is now: There is significant State and local investment, 
interest rates are near an all-time low, and enacting this legislation, 
the Water Protection and Reinvestment Act, will leverage hundreds of 
billions of additional dollars.
  The American public is already paying a disproportionate share of the 
costs of water infrastructure. Residential households have the least 
capacity to absorb additional costs during these difficult times, and 
they already face wildly escalating costs to deal with problems that 
they did not create. The voracious water demands of industry far 
outstrip household needs. In large measure, the Cokes of the world, the 
pharmaceutical companies, and industries that produce products that get 
flushed are the ones that accelerate water demand and complicate water 
treatment. Industries that profit by putting their products in the 
sewer systems--either by design or inadvertently--or who withdraw vast 
amounts of fresh water to make a profit should pay their fair share. 
Clean water is absolutely essential for these industries and the rest 
of the business community to function. A small fee to pay for water 
infrastructure upgrades would provide the business community far more 
in benefits than it would cost, and it could be used to leverage a 
broader range of investments.
  This bill will help communities deal with their water infrastructure 
needs in a stable, proactive way, and will provide significant benefits 
for those who rely on our water system, the local government officials 
charged with making the system work, and the industries who rely on a 
clean, consistent source of water for their products.

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