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Trump’s Cuts to EPA’s Budget Would
Make it Worse for Rural America
President Trump”s proposed budget for the EPA
would make our failing drinking water system
worse. The Trump budget proposed slashing
the agency”s funding by 31 percent; a leaked
memo showed that water-related programs and
grants at EPA totaling more than $600 million
are the chopping block. NRDC”s report shows
that even at its current level of funding, the
EPA and states are doing an inadequate job of
monitoring, testing, and enforcing safe drinking
water laws. The Trump budget also proposes to
eliminate all $498 million dollars in funding for
rural drinking water and wastewater systems
from the Department of Agriculture.
“Americans have a right to safe, clean drinking
water, but President Trump is killing that right
with a meat axe,” said Jamie Consuegra, a
Legislative Director with NRDC. “Our tap water
should not poison us or make us sick. We can’t
play politics with our health or our children”s
future.”
Deeper budget cuts could spell disaster,
especially for rural America.
“There”s a two-tiered drinking water system in
this nation and rural America is most at risk from
the inequality. Small systems have the highest
percentage of water violations, and it”s largely
due to financial and technical capacity issues
that will only get worse when the EPA cuts
drinking w ater programs,” said Mae Wu, Senior
Attorney with NRDC’s Health program.
Beyond regulated contaminants, which are the
focus of this report, many more unregulated
contaminants are also found in drinking water.
The EPA has not set a single standard for a
new drinking water contaminant since the
law was amended in 1996 to change the way
new contaminants are regulated. Only one
chemical—perchlorate (a component of rocket
fuel)—has been slated for regulation. However,
since the agency made that decision six years
ago, it has failed to even propose a standard.
Other unregulated contaminants ripe for EPA
regulation include algal toxins, the Teflon-related
chemicals PFOA and PFOS, the carcinogen
hexavalent chromium, and the pathogen that
causes Legionnaire’s disease.
The report notes, however, that proposals being
actively moved in Congress, such as the so-
called Regulatory Accountability Act, would
make it all but impossible for EPA to adopt new
tap water protections or strengthen current
ones.
Safeguarding our Tap Water
Investing and improving infrastructure and
enforcing the drinking water laws are solutions
that will make a difference. The NRDC
recommends that the nation must:
1. Improve water infrastructure and
modernize drinking water treatment plants.
This includes removing the 6 million to 10
million lead service lines across the country.
2. Increase funding for water infrastructure to
protect health and create good jobs.
Congress should increase water infrastructure
funding, which will also create millions of well-
paid jobs fixing the nation”s water system.
3. Strengthen and enforce existing
regulations, and establish new ones. Many
contaminants found in drinking water –
including pharmaceuticals and industrial
chemicals – are not regulated, leaving
everyone with potentially unsafe drinking
water.
4. Develop a more robust testing system for
drinking water contaminants.
Water Leaders • June 2017
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