Clean Water Testimony

Dear Representative,

On behalf of PennEnvironment’s citizen members, I am writing to ask you to co-sponsor and support House Bill 2157, bi-partisan legislation proposed by Rep. Marguerite Quinn and Rep. Barbara McIlvaine-Smith to strengthen Pennsylvania’s Safe Drinking Water Act.

This legislation will advance strong protection for the state’s drinking water supplies, including surface waters (rivers and streams)—as well as Pennsylvania’s groundwater sources—in order to protect public health and our environment. With nearly 9 million Pennsylvanians getting their drinking water from the Commonwealth’s rivers and streams—and millions more receiving their tap water from well water—it is critical to do everything in our power to safeguard these important resources.

Sadly, we also know that more than 14,000 miles of Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams are unfit for fishing and swimming, many of which supply drinking water for downstream residents.

Because of this excessive pollution, many of Pennsylvania’s drinking water sources require aggressive (and costly) purification processes before clean water can flow from the tap.  It’s time to stop being reactive to preventable and dangerous water pollution, and be proactive to guarantee clean drinking water sources for Pennsylvanians.  We must take immediate steps to ensure that our drinking water supplies are clean and healthy for the Commonwealth’s residents.

In order to protect drinking water supplies, we must ensure that the sources from which communities’ draw their drinking water are protected from pollution. This legislation will establish “critical zones” for surface water intakes and well water that supply Pennsylvania’s communities with drinking water.  It will also assign the Department of Environmental Protection to develop regulations and model ordinances which will be deemed statewide minimum requirements for surface water intake and wellhead protection.  Under this legislation, local zoning ordinances will include wellhead protection ordinances and/or surface water protection ordinances.

For these reasons, PennEnvironment calls upon the legislature to take immediate steps to ensure clean water for all Pennsylvania residents, and support this bi-partisan effort to protect the state’s drinking water sources.

Please do not hesitate to contact me by email (DMasur@PennEnvironment.org) or by phone (215-732-5897 or 267-303-8292 on my cell) with any questions about this legislation.  I look forward to continuing our work together to protect Pennsylvania’s environment.

Sincerely,

David Masur, Director

PennEnvironment