About 1 in 12 U.S. water systems still fails to meet basic health standards for drinking water.
Alan Roberson, former executive director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and a member of the Water & Health Advisory Council, says persistent violations expose a fundamental gap in the Safe Drinking Water Act: standards only protect public health when water systems can actually meet them.
Roberson points to three priorities. First, struggling systems need hands-on technical assistance—from repairing chlorinators and pumps to navigating project approvals and restoring reliable operations.
When systems repeatedly cannot comply, he argues regulators must be willing to enforce the law and, when necessary, require consolidation with systems capable of delivering safe water.
The third piece is money. Roberson calls for infrastructure assistance that combines grants with repayable loans, along with greater funding for state drinking-water agencies to provide technical assistance and enforce standards.
After 50 years, the challenge isn't simply writing standards for safe drinking water. It's making sure every system has the capacity—and accountability—to meet them.
Learn more about the Madison Declaration and the Next 50 Years of the Safe Drinking Water Act: https://lnkd.in/eFmTxW7V
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