The House version of the Healthy Drinking Water Affordability Act has been introduced into the 118^th Congress by U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and David Rouzer (R-NC). The bi-partisan bill, commonly known as the Healthy H20 Act, was introduced on World Water Day, the same day the Water Quality Association and the National Ground Water Association gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Water Resources Congressional Summit.

The Healthy H2O Act, which offers federal grants for water quality testing and certified treatment technology in rural and underserved communities, grew from an initiative developed by the WQA's Clean Water for All task force, which worked on efforts to ensure all Americans have access to safe and healthy drinking water. The legislation is co-sponsored in the House by and David Valadao (R-CA).

The bill is identical to the Senate bill introduced March 15 by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and co-sponsored by Sens.  Tina Smith (D-MN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Angus King (I-ME).

"We welcome the introduction of the Healthy H2O Act in the House on World Water Day, with the same goal of accelerating positive change," said WQA Executive Director Pauli Undesser, MWS. "On behalf of rural Americans who rely on private wells for drinking water, we applaud this effort to make advice from industry professionals, specialized water testing and certified point-of-use and point-of-entry filtration systems more readily available to those who need them the most."

Rep. Pingree said that Maine is experiencing a PFAS crisis, and, "we're ahead of the curve when it comes to testing for PFAS, which unfortunately is a sign that the rest of the U.S. likely also has high levels of contamination – they just don't know it yet. . . The Healthy H₂O Act will make testing and treatment technology more accessible so we can address contaminants in our water, and so our communities can be protected against these harmful chemicals."

The act would authorize a new U.S. Department of Agriculture grant program to cover the costs of water quality testing and the purchase, installation, and maintenance of POU/POE water filtration systems certified to address health-based contaminants found in their drinking water. Funding would go directly to individuals, licensed child-care facilities, and non-profits that are equipped to help people go through the process of testing and then finding and installing a water treatment product to address their situation.

"While I have continued to support legislative efforts to make PFAS a priority for the EPA, I'm proud to introduce bipartisan legislation to help families and small businesses in our rural communities receive better support on addressing the dangers of PFAS contamination," Rouzer said. "The Healthy H2O Act will help identify health-based contaminants in drinking water that may pose risks to health and the environment. By identifying these contaminants, our rural and underserved communities can then make progress to remedy the situation by utilizing grant funding to purchase and install cost effective water filtration systems."

An estimated 23 million U.S. households rely on private wells for their drinking water. Wells are not subject to the same oversight and testing as municipal water systems, which can delay the identification of potential health hazards in local groundwater.

More than 30 organizations have joined WQA in publicly supporting the bill, including the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, National Ground Water Association, The Water Council, NSF, IAPMO, the American Supply Association, the Water Systems Council, the Water Well Trust, and the Groundwater Foundation.

More information on the bill, including the full text of the legislation and a one-page explainer sheet, is available at wqa.org/healthyh2O.