Clean Water Action is proud to join the water community in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) today! The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 16, 1974. The goal of the nation’s first comprehensive drinking water law was to reduce risks to public health from drinking water. The law ushered in remarkable improvements and technical innovation in drinking water treatment and distribution. But the work of the Safe Drinking Water Act is never done.
Drinking water issues and engaging in how SDWA is implemented have always been a core part of Clean Water’s work. The law’s success relies on people engaging in the process by commenting on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiatives. It’s also critical that public health and environmental advocates are “at the table” to provide expert input on the regulatory process. Clean Water works to bring both expertise and people power to the process. We’re also focused on making sure other environmental protection programs keep pollution out of our drinking water in the first place.
We are honored to join other stakeholders as part of the Environmental Law Institute’s Environmental Forum “debate” about the future of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Read what National Campaigns Director Lynn Thorp and 5 others from advocacy organizations, government, and the water sector wrote here.
The Environmental Forum discussion touched on several priority issues in our work, including the need for ongoing water infrastructure investment and the imperative to do more to keep pollution out of our drinking water. Perhaps most important, the Act can only succeed with collective commitment to modernizing and maintaining the nation’s water systems and ensuring access for everyone.
Priority issues in our work include:
- Making sure SDWA’s contaminant limits keep up with health science around long-known contaminants like nitrates and arsenic and that regulations address “emerging” contaminants like microplastics
- Ensuring ongoing federal water infrastructure investments to support local drinking water system improvements and robust budgets for federal and state agency implementation of the law
- Elevating the need to keep pollutants out of our drinking water systems in the first place so that drinking water systems and their customers don’t bear all the costs of removing contaminants like the notorious PFAS chemicals
As we celebrate the successes of the landmark drinking water law, we are also committed to pushing for continued progress in providing safe drinking water for everyone and elevating the imperative to keep dangerous pollution out of our water, our air, and our communities.
