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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 22, 2021 02:26 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative David H. Zimmerman and Rep. Dawn W. Keefer |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | PA’s Safe Drinking Water Act Amendment (Prior HB 2385 – 19/20 Session) |
| Recent events in communities around the Country have affirmed the need for safe drinking water standards and the enforcement of regulations regarding contaminants and dangerous microbes. There is no opposition to clean water, and as more research is done on water quality standards our water sources become cleaner and healthier with every passing year. In DEP’s efforts to assure safe drinking water to our constituents they have taken actions that significantly supersede federal regulations and pose harm to small businesses, schools, and churches in our communities. Instead of focusing on purely water quality concerns as the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act requires, DEP has taken it upon themselves to also regulate the tried and true wells and technologies used to clean the water. Any facility which houses at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents can expect a visit from DEP to assess the quality of the water, technologies utilized, and any records of the well in use. If DEP disagrees with the technology in place or believes the records of the well’s construction and upkeep to be unclear, they will threaten to shut down a community’s school, church, or small business. Clean, safe, and healthy water should be DEP’s sole concern, yet they are putting significant effort into micromanaging wells that have been safely in use for decades. Our residents and businesses are subject to ever-increasingly rigorous and more costly regulations. Small communities are losing the ability to use their places of worship, schools, and businesses because DEP expresses concern with wells that otherwise cause no conflict with the safety of the user or federal regulations. To combat continued DEP overreach I will introduce legislation holding the department to federal drinking water standards that focus on the true concern, water quality, and not the wells or technologies that deliver the water to the citizens of our State. This amendment to our Safe Drinking Water Act will preserve PA’s primacy over drinking water regulations, uphold the intent of water quality standards promulgated by the Federal government, and protect our constituents from unnecessary and encumbering DEP overreach. Please consider co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation. Previous co-sponsors: (HB 2385, 2019-2020): KEEFER, STRUZZI, GREINER, PICKETT, MILLARD, FREEMAN, RYAN, ROWE, GAYDOS, RADER, JAMES, ECKER, MOUL and FRITZ |
Introduced as HB592