Safe and Secure Drinking Water Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Safe and Secure Drinking Water Act, an important step to sustain America's clean drinking water.

On August 2, Microcystin-laced, toxic algae overtook the drinking water intake process for Toledo, Ohio during an explosion of algae growth in western Lake Erie. For three days, half a million Americans were without safe drinking water.

In Toledo, the taps are back on, but the crisis remains.

The growth of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie will continue to threaten communities, local economies, and the 11 million people who depend on the lake for fresh water. Until the flow of algae-feeding nutrients into the lake is stopped, the risk of further water emergencies will persist.

This concern is not isolated to Lake Erie. Millions of Americans across the country rely on drinking water from natural sources that are similarly threatened by increasing levels of nutrient runoff, and the resulting toxic algal growth.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes harmful algal blooms as a major environmental problem in all 50 states, with severe impacts on human health.

Despite this realization, the U.S. EPA fails to take a most basic step to protect public safety--setting federal guidelines or standards for unsafe consumption levels, testing practices to determine the presence of Microcystin in water systems, or feasible treatment techniques. Without these basic protections, millions of Americans' health is at risk.

This necessary legislation will compel the EPA to take these important first steps within 90 days of its passage, and in the absence of regulatory action, to report on additional steps to promote safer practices in areas affected by harmful algal blooms.

Mr. Speaker, our communities across this great nation need this guidance and cannot continue to wait. The Safe and Secure Drinking Water Act must be passed quickly to provide our communities the guidance and answers they need.

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