Dave Camp: “I strongly support H.R. 3604, the Safe Drinking Water Act amendments, and will vote for passage of the bill. Under our…”

“I strongly support H.R. 3604, the Safe Drinking Water Act amendments, and will vote for passage of the bill. Under our current Safe Drinking Water Act, communities do not have adequate resources, both financial and technical, to comply with Federal water standards. This legislation will provide $7.6 billion for grants and loans to local water authorities for compliance, activities, training of new operators, and development of solutions to water pollution. These measures will help our communities provide clean, safe drinking water to their residents. The legislation also includes a community right-to-know provision, requiring water systems to mail every consumer an annual report concerning the levels of regulated contaminants in their water. Consumers need to know that their water is clean and pure. Parents need to know that the water they give their children is safe to drink. These reports will put more information into the hands of consumers and parents, and allow them to better monitor the resources in their communities. This bill ends the one-size-fits-all safe drinking water policies that our current law dictates. It returns the decisionmaking power to the State and local water authorities, who know best the needs of their community water system. Communities will be better able to monitor the purity of their water than bureaucrats in Washington, DC.”