Guest Columns

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program was developed as a mechanism for consumers and businesses to help conserve water. EPA recently said in 2023 alone, WaterSense-labeled products helped save 1.2 trillion gallons of water. Since the conception of the WaterSense label, the agency saidRead More

The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Wastewater Infrastructure Pollution Prevention and Environmental Safety (WIPPES) Act, the result of a decade of advocacy by NACWA, the California Association of Sanitation Agencies, water sector partners, and manufacturers to improve labeling. The legislation directs theRead More

On May 15, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule to make annual drinking water quality reports more understandable and accessible to the public. The agency said the reports are an important tool that drinking water systems use to inform residents about waterRead More

By Anita Peterson It’s no secret that the utilities industry, including water services, is going to have to grapple with a workforce gap in the coming years. This workforce decline has the potential to severely impact the experiences of both the remaining employees in theRead More

Legislation that supports a collaborative approach to to regulating cybersecurity in the water sector was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in April. Spearheaded by Reps. Rick Crawford (R-Ariz.) and John Duarte (R-Calif.), H.R. 7922 authorizes an independent, non-federal entity to lead the development of cybersecurityRead More

By Andrew Ginter In 2023, 68 cyber attacks took down more than 500 sites worldwide, some of them water utilities. All modern automation includes computers, and so for the last 40 years we have been deploying more and more targets for cyber attacks. Compounding theRead More

Bipartisan legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would provide a statutory shield for water systems under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for PFAS, and help ensure that polluters, not the public, pay for PFAS cleanup. The bill,Read More

More than 350 water sector professionals and policy experts, representing associations and public water sector utilities from across the country, will take part in Congressional office visits this week as part of the annual “Water Week” Fly-In on Capitol Hill.   A large contingent ofRead More

By Ken Sansone & Mike DiGiannantonio With EPA’s National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for PFAS now finalized, the recently announced 3M and DuPont settlements, stemming from the ongoing Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) Multi-District Litigation (MDL) promise access to billions of dollars to cover PFAS treatmentRead More

As part of the fourth Investing in America tour, Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan recently announced more than $5.8 billion from President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda for states, Tribes and territories to invest in drinkingRead More