(Washington, DC) The country's largest community-based water supply organization, the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) is grateful to Senators Wicker (MS) and Heitkamp (ND) for sponsoring legislation to reauthorize the most important element of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The Senators introduced S.816 in April, a bill to reauthorize the SDWA's small and rural community technical assistance provision.

Rural water associations' technical assistance and compliance training (reauthorized in the bill) ensure that federal regulations don't overwhelm small and rural communities' resources. Rural water initiatives have been the main source of compliance and assistance for small and rural communities to meet federal standards. Without these initiatives, effective implementation of the SDWA and Clean Water Act (CWA) in rural areas and small communities would be impossible. 

Eric Volk, Executive Director with North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association said, " We are grateful for Senator Heitkamp's help and assistance to the country's over 50,000 small and rural communities that are trying to provide safe and clean water to their citizens every day. The Senator's bill ensures that the most helpful and environmentally beneficial initiatives are available to rural communities. This approach is truly unique in the federal effort to protect the environment because it accomplishes progressive environmental protection with the support of the local communities. Small communities comprise more than 90 percent of the water supplies in the states. However, due to a lack of economies of scale, it is often more difficult for small towns to comply with federal rules, afford the latest technology, and have access to technical experts."

The following Senators are original sponsors or cosponsors of the legislation: Senators Heitkamp (ND), Wicker (MS), Cochran (MS), Udall (NM), Crapo (ID), Klobuchar (MN), Risch (ID), Johnson (SD), Moran (KS), Landrieu (LA), Boozman (AR), Tester (MT), Inhofe (OK), Hirono (HI), and Baucus (MT). 

The U.S. has approximately 51,651 community drinking water supplies and 16,255 publicly owned sanitation supplies. Most of these water supplies serve small communities with limited public resources and competing public funding priorities (94% of community water supplies serve less than 10,000 persons and 80% of public sanitation supplies serve less than 10,000 persons). Communities assisted last year are available in Rural Water's Report to Congress (www.ruralwater.org/report).