WASHINGTON, DC - The Environment Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), today announced a markup for Thursday, July 13, 2017, at 10 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Building on the committee’s work examining drinking water infrastructure across the country, #SubEnvironment will consider a discussion draft of legislation that seeks to bring greater investment to the country’s aging drinking water infrastructure as well as facilitate compliance by our drinking water delivery systems.
H.R.___, the Drinking Water System Improvement Act :
* Drinking water is delivered across the country via one million pipes owned by both privately and publicly owned water systems. Many of the nation’s pipes were laid in the early to mid-20th century with a lifespan of 75 to 100 years.
* While drinking water quality remains high across the country, improvements can be made to the nation’s aging drinking water infrastructure.
* The discussion draft proposes several changes to the Safe Drinking Water Act focused mainly on drinking water delivery system infrastructure and compliance improvements.
* On March 16, 2017, #SubEnvironment held a hearing examining drinking water infrastructure needs across the country.
* On May 19, 2017, #SubEnvironmen t held a hearing on the discussion draft.
“Every American should have reliable access to good drinking water and this committee has done its homework when it comes to looking at what improvements can be made to the Safe Drinking Water Act to help our drinking water delivery systems," said Chairman Shimkus. “However, that doesn’t mean our work is finished and we will continue working in a bipartisan manner to perfect this legislation as we work towards full committee markup. The time is now to modernize our drinking water infrastructure and I look forward to further exploring this discussion draft on Thursday."
An electronic copy of the legislation and a background memo can be found on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s website here. Amendment text and votes will be available at the same link as they are posted.
