John Mica: “I am glad the gentleman mentioned Cryptosporidium and contaminated water supplies. I sat on the subcommittee, of course…”

“I am glad the gentleman mentioned Cryptosporidium and contaminated water supplies. I sat on the subcommittee, of course, that oversaw some of these issues in the 103d Congress. One of the things we have heard folks talk about here on the floor was Milwaukee and how their water supply became contaminated. We questioned, in fact, some of the people who were involved in the problem. I think there were some deaths there, and many people were sick. In fact, it turned out, and the gentleman spoke about the 53 or 54 water contaminants that are mandated by Congress and the EPA for each area to look at. And the folks from Milwaukee told us in fact that they were busy checking on some of these mandated contaminants that actually had no opportunity to occur in that area, and had to use their resources on these edicts that were sent out from Washington, when in fact Cryptosporidium, which is caused by deer or animal feces, I think, is the root of it, was ignored by the community. So we are requiring, with these edicts and mandates from Washington, them to spend their limited resources not looking at where the real risks are, and that is part of what we are trying to change.”