Water Regulation and Infrastructure Seen as Priority under Obama

Date: November 11, 2008

Source: News Room

US EPA efforts to improve water-treatment infrastructure, regulate emerging contaminants and protect wetlands are likely to grow in the Obama administration which has vowed to make climate change a top priority. The president-elect said last week that passage of a $60 billion to $100 billion economic stimulus package would be a top priority following his inauguration, especially if President Bush and Congress fail to come to an agreement in the interim. Democrats have proposed using water and other infrastructure projects as an economic stimulus. Environmentalists and water-industry experts acknowledge a dire need for federal funding of water infrastructure which has fallen off by as much as 70% in the last two decades. Environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council are also seeking tighter regulation of perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, which causes numerous ill health effects and the disposition of pharmaceuticals in drinking water, particularly following reportsthat prescription drugs were affecting hormone levels in some fish. The NRDC is also pushing for passage of a controversial wetlands protection bill, S. 1870 which widens the purview of the Clean Water Act by expanding the definition of "navigable waters."

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