Source Water Protection and Polluter Responsibility

The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) originally published this article to highlight the association's significant advocacy contributions for over 40 years. Find more information on AMWA's efforts: AMWA.

Larger #utilities have always been at the forefront of #sourcewaterprotection by purchasing land in #watersheds to keep it free of development and collaborating with farmers to reduce run-off from cropland. AMWA began to share this story to promote the adoption of such practices in the late 1990s, and the association engaged with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on workshops across the country, leading to "Protecting Sources of Drinking Water: Selected Case Studies in Watershed Management in 1999." Since then, AMWA has continued to support USDA #conservation programs collaborating with #water systems.?

AMWA’s support for source water protection took a turn in the early 2000s when the association led the opposition against liability safe harbor for producers of the gasoline additive methyl tert-butyl ether (#MTBE), which had been contaminating #groundwater supplies. Citing an AMWA study that clean-up costs could amount to $33 billion and working with a coalition of groups and legislators, the association helped to defeat safe harbor legislation on Capitol Hill.?

The association has consistently supported amending current federal laws and programs to protect water sources. AMWA has pressed EPA to leverage the Toxic Substances Control Act (#TSCA) to protect #drinkingwater sources and, as a result, ensure drinking water is more affordable for #ratepayers by keeping harmful chemicals like #PFAS out of the nation’s water supplies. This approach “helps ensure that those who pollute our natural resources are not allowed to pass the cost of cleanup onto public drinking water utilities and their customers.”