Minnesota Goes to Washington DC: Water Matters! Fly In

Scott Anderson, Chair AWWA MN Section Water Utility Council and Naeem Qureshi, Client Service Manager Sambatek, participated in a fly-in to Washington DC in March 2023 organized by AWWA Washington DC Office. Both Scott and Naeem contacted and met with members of our congressional delegation staff to discuss issues faced by the water industry. The issues discussed included.

• Per-Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Liability Exemption

Water utilities must meet PFAS standards for drinking water and the disposal of waste products may be designated as a hazardous substance under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). We advocated support of explicit legislative exemption liability under CERCLA for water systems.

• Invest in Nation Water Infrastructure

Support full funding of Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, at or above the authorized amount. Stop the practice of taking funding for earmarks (FY 2023 53% of DWSRF) out of annual State Revolving Fund appropriations. Restore the tax-exempt benefits of refunding of municipal bonds.

Support Source Water Protection

Protect the 10% set aside for source water protection in the upcoming Farm Bill and ensure that 10% set side applies to conservation funds.

Build Cyber Resilience in the Water Sector

Authorize EPA to recognize a New Risk and Resilience Organization to develop minimum cyber security requirements like North American Electric Reliability Council for electric utilities and provide for third party audits. Provide targeted funding for training and to support expediated implementation of important and timely cyber security projects.

A bill (HR 1837) was introduced in the Congress to restore the benefits of advance refunding of municipal bonds because of the Fly in. Recently another bill (S-1430), sponsored by seven senators, was introduced in the Senate to provide water utilities an exemption from CERCLA liability in the event of PFAS contamination from treatment byproducts. •