The Guardian
Biden called for water bill support amid the worst U.S. crisis in decades
The Water Law proposes massive injection of federal dollars as millions of people are left without access to clean, safe and accessible water. Water drips from a hydrant while workers repair a broken water pipe in Austin, Texas, on February 21. Most water and sewage systems across the country are also not prepared to deal with the climate crisis. Photo: Jay Janner / AP Subscribe to the Guardian’s First Thing newsletter Democratic lawmakers and advocates are asking Joe Biden to support legislation that proposes an unprecedented investment in America’s precarious water infrastructure in the midst of the country’s worst crisis in decades, which left millions of people without access to cleaning services, safe and accessible water. Boil warnings, leaking lead pipes, forever poisonous chemicals, overdue bills and raw sewage are among the pressing issues that ordinary Americans and municipal utilities face after decades of neglect by the federal government, which led to aged water from the country to a disaster. Most water and sewage systems across the country are also unprepared to deal with the climate crisis that is causing ever more frequent extreme weather events, such as the Arctic freeze, which interrupted water and energy supplies across the country. Texas last week. After decades of little investment, a water justice bill will be presented on Thursday in Congress that proposes a massive injection of federal dollars over the next two decades to reform aging infrastructure, create decent jobs and address the old inequalities access to water and sanitation. Of course, we have a water crisis in every corner of the United States, and if we don’t act soon, it will be a disaster. Brenda Lawrence The Water Accessibility, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (Water) Act, which will be introduced by Bernie Sanders in the Senate and Brenda Lawrence and Ro Khanna in the House, is supported by at least 70 other Democratic lawmakers and more than 500 defenders, labor and religious organizations from almost every state. It arrives when more details about the president’s $ 2 trillion Build Back Better plan are expected soon, which activists hope will prioritize access to water, given the president’s promise to place environmental justice at the center of climate policies and of your government’s infrastructure. “Of course, we have a water crisis in every corner of the United States and, if we don’t act soon, it will be a disaster,” Lawrence told the Guardian. “What happened in Texas and Flint, Michigan and so many other places shows us what happens when we don’t take care of our water infrastructure. I want to scream from the roof and shake America to wake up: safe, clean and accessible water is necessary to live – without it you will die. ”Federal funding for water systems has dropped 77% in real terms since its peak in 1977 – leaving local utilities to raise money through bills and loans needed to update infrastructure, meet safety standards for toxic contaminants like PFAS , lead and algae bloom and adapt to extreme weather conditions, such as droughts and floods associated with global warming. “It is unbelievable that in 2021 American children are poisoned by tap water … Not only do we allow corporations to pollute our waterways, but the government has failed to keep up with the critical improvements needed in our drinking water and sewage infrastructure,” he said. Sanders, who warns that new privatizations would raise prices and reduce access. The impact of declining government interest has been uneven: people of color, Native Americans and low-income families are disproportionately affected by rising bills and contaminants. “Detroit’s people have endured skyrocketing bills, unaffordable fees, mass closings and tax sales foreclosures – and members of the black and brown community are facing the brunt of the burden,” said Monica Lewis Patrick, president of We the People of Detroit, one of the account support groups. “Water is a human right, but our current water systems are a breeding ground for racism and environmental trauma.” The funding gap is huge: $ 35 billion annually for 20 years is needed only to comply with safety regulations, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It can cost up to $ 944 billion to make water and sewage stations resilient to the climate. Part of the problem is that, for years, maintenance and cleaning projects have been delayed by utilities, without draining money or planning for the climate crisis. Last week, about 10 million Texans lacked drinking water after low temperatures damaged large parts of the state’s water infrastructure. Hundreds of boiling warnings were issued for cities and towns, as a drop in water pressure threatened security. Water supplies and sanitation have been interrupted several times in the past few decades – in Louisiana, Puerto Rico, California, Ohio and elsewhere – after hurricanes, forest fires, floods and other natural disasters, revealing the dire lack of preparedness to deal with with climatic chaos, according to the Council for the Defense of Natural Resources. The absence of the federal government has left many public services in crisis and in dire need of help, according to Adam Kratz, CEO of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA). “The pandemic and Texas have shown that we need a major long-term financing program to rebuild our country’s interconnected infrastructure and bring it up to 21st century standards, with water as the primary focus.” The Water Act, which was first introduced in 2016, would provide $ 35 billion annually for states to allocate to public utilities for repairs to drinking water and sewage infrastructure, as well as funds to replace lead service lines and filters for toxic drinking water compounds – creating up to one million well-paying jobs a year. Families could obtain subsidies for septic tanks, and $ 1 billion would be earmarked for schools to deal with lead and other safety concerns. Tribes and rural communities would be among those prioritized, as well as low-income families to avoid closures due to inaccessible accounts. So far, $ 638 million of Covid’s relief funds have been used to help families struggling with their accounts, with another $ 500 million expected. To put this in perspective, in California alone the debt on the water bills is $ 1 billion and one in eight households is currently in arrears. Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Action, said: “From the plague of water cuts during a pandemic to the recent heartbreaking scenes in the south, it has become desperately clear that our country is in a water crisis. Serious crises demand robust solutions, and that is exactly what the Water Law provides. “