news

Read this full article at the TimesUnion

U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko has beaten the drum for improved drinking water infrastructure for a year or more, leading tours to emphasize how much of the Capital Region's aging pipeline system dates back to the 1800s, when Rutherford B. Hayes was in the White House.

An engineer by training and temperament, he saw disasters waiting to happen. And now they have, in Flint, Mich., as well as in Troy and Hoosick Falls.

"Out of sight cannot be out of mind,'' the Amsterdam Democrat said. "We need to pony up and get this done. It affects every life, every job.''
On Monday, Tonko unveiled legislation he co-authored with Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., that would reauthorize the Safe Drinking Water Act and replenish its state revolving fund with more than $20 billion over the next five years for local water-line improvement projects.

In 2014, New York got $42.4 million through the fund for drinking water projects. Overall, since the fund was established in the 1990s, New York has received $1.1 billion.

With an aging infrastructure and pollution a constant threat, New York needs much more, Tonko argued.

"There is ripple effect — no pun intended — that impacts children, businesses, communities and households,'' Tonko said. "Ask the people of Flint and Troy what the cost of doing nothing is.''

The crises in Flint and Hoosick Falls involve toxic pollutants infiltrating drinking water — lead in Flint and cancer-linked perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in Hoosick Falls. In Troy, a water main break caused flooding in major portions of the city. What they have in common, Tonko said, is not only faulty infrastructure and monitoring but an aging, depleted workforce in need of well-trained recruits.

In the Capital Region water infrastructure tour, "We learned quickly it wasn't just capital and physical infrastructure but human infrastructure as well,'' he said. "We need new people for training and certification.''

The Safe Drinking Water Act was last authorized by Congress in 2003. The law and its revolving fund have survived through inclusion in spending bills ever since, but Tonko and others in Congress feel it has become a political football that could fall victim to partisan crossfire on Capitol Hill.

His bill, the Assistance, Quality and Affordability Act — AQUA, for short — would reauthorize it and peg expenditures at $3.13 billion in 2017 plus an extra 15 percent each year through 2021.

It would also help the federal government assess risks and award grants for drinking water systems affected by drought and other factors attributable to climate change.

Tonko is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the federal role in drinking water. Republicans who control the House and committee also have expressed alarm over the crisis in Flint, but may balk at the dollar figures in Tonko's bill.

Dan Schneider, spokesman for the committee's Republican majority, said the GOP members were still reviewing the bill's content and could not comment.