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| Wilson Bill Shields Consumers from Steep Cost Hike |
October 16, 2003 |
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| Washington, DC – Congresswoman Heather Wilson 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 defrays the cost of complying with the new rules which are estimated at up to $500 million for 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.
The bill provides $1.9 billion in grants from 2004 to 2009 to help communities come into compliance with the new standard being developed by the EPA. “New Mexicans should not have to scrape together another $40 to $90 a month to pay the costs of implementing this new standard,” Wilson said.
Without the Wilson-sponsored legislation, Albuquerque residents could see increases in monthly bills of $38 to $42. Rural residents could see increases of $91 monthly without federal assistance.
“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,” Wilson said.
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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