Two members of Congress honored for water-related legislation
Members and staff of the Water Quality Association (WQA) participated in a two-day visit to Capitol Hill in Washington on March 6-7, 2018. The message from the delegation emphasized WQA’s support for common-sense solutions to infrastructure issues while emphasizing the need for funding for Point-of-Use (POU) and Point-of-Entry (POE) technology in water related legislation.
“This is a great opportunity for our members to inform members of Congress about our priorities while learning about the regulatory and legislative climate in Washington,” said WQA Executive Director Pauli Undesser. “We want to make sure any legislation that addresses infrastructure includes funding for certified POU/POE technology that can provide immediate benefits to consumers.”
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) were honored with WQA’s Champions award for their support of water-related legislation. Shaheen sponsored the Safe Drinking Water Assistance Act, a bipartisan bill that would establish a national strategy to coordinate the federal response to emerging contaminants and provide assistance to states in responding to these toxins.
She and Fitzpatrick also sponsored two water-related amendments to the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act – one directing the Secretary of Defense to conduct a nationwide health study on the effects of exposure to PFOS/PFOA at military installations; a second mandating a study on the progress that the Department of Defense has made in developing firefighting foam that does not contain PFOS/PFOA. Both are now law.
In addition to an Infrastructure bill, WQA is calling attention to the 2018 Farm Bill, a multi-year authorizing initiative that includes funding for water projects in rural communities, and the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) which contains authorization of water related projects that are overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers.
“We want to emphasize to lawmakers that when the Flint (Michigan) crisis developed, the use of certified water filters and other water treatment devices along with bottled water provided immediate relief while longer-term funding options for the removal of lead pipes are still being considered,” Undesser said.
For the second consecutive year, WQA partnered with the Irrigation Association and the National Groundwater Association for a Water Resources Congressional Summit, an opportunity to hear from Congressional staff and regulators involved with water and the environment.
The Irrigation Association (IA) is a membership organization that includes irrigation companies and professionals in agriculture, landscape and golf. The National Groundwater Association (NGWA) represents U.S and international groundwater professionals, including water well contractors, scientists and engineers, manufacturers, and suppliers.
WQA is a not-for-profit trade association representing the residential, commercial, and industrial water treatment industry. Since 1959, the WQA Gold Seal certification program has been certifying products that contribute to the safe consumption of water. The WQA Gold Seal program is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC).
