Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduces clean water bill

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - As parts of Wisconsin deal with high levels of PFAS, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is taking action to protect rural communities.

Sen. Baldwin introduced The Healthy Drinking Water Affordability Act, or The Healthy H2O Act. It provides grants for water testing and treatment directly to individuals, non-profits, and local governments in rural communities.

“This will be testing the water as it comes out of the faucet. And that’s so important especially if you have a private well. So, unless you test it, no one is testing it,” explained Baldwin.

Across Wisconsin, rural communities rely on groundwater delivered through private wells for their drinking water. However, water from private wells is not subject to the same regular oversight and testing for contamination, which can delay the identification of and response to health threats.

The Healthy H2O Act would provide grants for water quality testing and the purchase and installation of water quality improvement systems that remove or significantly reduce contaminants from drinking water.

“Whether the contaminates are something like PFAS or nitrates or lead or manure, all of these things are found in numerous communities across Wisconsin. So these grants are for testing and for treatment of the problems,” said Baldwin.

A press release said the money would be provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and be given directly to individuals and to non-profits or local governments.

The bill has been referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. It will be reviewed there before heading to the Senate for approval.

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