Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

By Ms. MURKOWSKI:

S. 1409. A bill to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 to modify the grant program to improve sanitation in rural and Native villages in the State of Alaska; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill that will allow the Environmental Protection Agency to continue to provide grant funding and technical assistance to small, rural communities in Alaska for critical water and sewer projects. These rural communities are only accessible by either aircraft or boat.

This important funding was originally authorized as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 and was reauthorized in 2000. The authorization for this program expires at the end of fiscal year 2005. Every fiscal year, the EPA transfers funding authorized by this program to the State of Alaska's Village Safe Water Program, which is managed by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

The water and sewer conditions in the villages in Alaska that still need this critical funding rival the conditions in rural communities in third world countries. For example, residents in some villages in Alaska have to go to a central source in the community to get fresh water. This source is usually a well. Instead of flushing toilets, residents have to use a device called a ``honeybucket.'' This device is a large bucket with a toilet seat on top. When the honeybucket is full, it is usually dumped in a lagoon or on land. Sometimes, these dump locations are near sources of drinking water.

The Village Safe Water program has been a success over the years. Many homes in Alaska's rural communities now have plumbing due to funds authorized by this program. However, thirty-three percent of homes in these communities still do not have in-house plumbing. It is unacceptable that the residents of these communities still do not have access to conventional plumbing in their homes in 2005.

Earlier this year, the Office of Management and Budget published a Program Assessment Rating Tool report concerning this program. This report found several deficiencies concerning the administration of this program. However, I have been assured that the EPA and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are working closely together to correct these deficiencies.

It is imperative that we reauthorize this critically important program before the end of this fiscal year. The health and well-being of rural Alaskans is at stake.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of this bill be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 1409

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. GRANTS TO ALASKA TO IMPROVE SANITATION IN RURAL AND NATIVE VILLAGES.

Section 303 of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 (33 U.S.C. 1263a) is amended--

(1) in subsection (b), by striking ``50 percent'' and inserting ``75 percent''; and

(2) in subsection (e)--

(A) by striking ``$40,000,000'' and inserting ``$45,000,000''; and

(B) by striking ``2005'' and inserting ``2010''.

http://thomas.loc.gov/