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| Wilson & Udall Bill Would Shield Consumers from Water Costs |
May 17, 2005 |
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Wilson & Udall Introduce Safe Drinking Water Act
Washington, DC – Representatives Heather Wilson (R-Albuquerque) and Tom Udall (D-Santa Fe) today introduced legislation to protect New Mexicans from sharp increases in costs from federally-mandated changes to New Mexico’s drinking water.
The Safe Drinking Water Act would defray the cost of complying with the new rules which are estimated at up to $500 million for the state of New Mexico, plus yearly costs of $18 million.
“We all want clean, safe and affordable drinking water. Arsenic standards should be based on sound science and if the federal government is making smaller communities meet a more stringent standard, then they should pay the cost of meeting it,” Wilson said. “This $18 million a year pricetag would buy health insurance for 3,000 New Mexico families, pay the state’s $5 million budget for smoking cessation programs for more than three years, or pay the salaries of a music or art teacher for every public school.”
“It’s clear that small and rural communities are going to need as much help as possible with the new arsenic standard. Because the occurrence of arsenic knows no state borders, a national initiative is necessary to provide some flexibility and financial assistance in meeting the new standard. Water users should not be burdened with these costs,” Udall said.
The bill provides $1.9 billion in grants from 2006 to 2011 to help communities come into compliance with the new standard being developed by the EPA.
Without the legislation, Albuquerque residents could see increases in monthly bills of $38 to $42, and many New Mexicans could see increases of $40 to $90 a month without federal assistance, particularly rural residents.
While nationwide only 5 percent of water systems will be affected by the new standard, several western states where arsenic occurs naturally in the volcanic soil will bear most of the burden of complying with the standard. The New Mexico Environment Department estimates that about 25 percent of New Mexico’s water systems will be affected with the standard at 10 parts per billion (ppb). Depending on the well, the natural arsenic levels are around 13 ppb in Albuquerque.
While New Mexico has higher naturally occurring arsenic levels than most other states, there are fewer occurrences of bladder and liver cancer, which are associated with arsenic. EPA estimates indicate that, nationwide, the new rule will avoid 21 to 30 deaths from bladder and lung cancer each year. In 2006, the federal standard changes from 50 ppb to 10 ppb.
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