U.S. House OKs Latta water quality bill

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment has approved provisions authored by U.S. Representative Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) as part of a larger drinking water infrastructure bill, the Drinking Water System Improvement Act.

The included provisions originated from legislation that Latta authored, the Drinking Water Affordability Act, and would help public water systems improve infrastructure and ensure safer drinking water.

Provisions authored by Latta that were included in the bill would:

• Provide increased flexibility for the repayment of federal loans for states and local communities that use the funds to finance clean drinking water infrastructure projects
• Cut burdensome red tape by looking at ways to remove duplicative reporting and paperwork requirements when state standards are equally stringent — or more so — than federal standards
• Help disadvantaged communities better finance their infrastructure through the use of federal funding
• Ensures communities have the ability to update their assessments for their source water protection needs
• Develop best practices to streamline and efficiently provide communities with drinking water revolving loan funds

“Providing increased flexibility to state and local governments to meet their specific drinking water needs will make it easier to move ahead with much-needed infrastructure projects,” said Latta. “Removing duplicative federal requirements and making it easier to repay federal loans will provide more options for communities — including disadvantaged ones — to ensure safe drinking water. With more than 51,000 community water systems across the country, all with varying needs and infrastructure currently place, the Drinking Water System Improvement Act boosts efforts to provide safe drinking water without burdening ratepayers with skyrocketing costs.”

For more information on these provisions and other parts of the legislation, visit the Energy and Commerce website here.

Latta has been a longtime advocate for safe drinking water policies in Congress including authoring the Drinking Water Protection Act, to create a strategic plan to address algal toxins in drinking water. That legislation was signed into law last Congress.