Transcripts For CSPAN3 Hearing 20240702

I am happy to be with my colleagues. I think it is an encouraging atmosphere, i noticed it yesterday on the floor, and again today. We did a lot of good work before the recess. Got plenty of work still to do. I am delighted to kick it off with this hearing. In march our Committee Held its first oversight hearing on the bipartisan infrastructure laws, Drinking Water and wastewater provisions. Today we will expand upon those after focusing on the laws on Drinking Water. Nearly two years after becoming law, bipartisan infrastructure law is helping to help make is helping to make clean water a reality for communities, schools and childcare facilities. As the benefits of this law continue to become a reality in morecambe committees across america, our committee is anxious to hear from stakeholders about how you believe this work is progressing. And if we can make any improvements. Mike rawlings heard me say my colleagues heard me say anything i can do we know we can do better. Investing in our nations Water Infrastructure is deeply personal to me. Growing up in West Virginia and virginia, my sister and i lived near rivers and streams like beavercreek 100 feet from our house. Just outside of beckley was a stream contaminated by septics and tanks. About a two hour drive south of the Cuyahoga River. In pennsylvania i was reading on the news that the coyote of the Cuyahoga River caught fire. The question is what we are going to do about it. Both of those experiences ingrained in me the importance of water in our daily lives. From protecting our beaches and wetlands to maintaining Service Lines, clean water is cortical to our nations economy. As many of us know, matthew 25 calls on us to care for those who are in need. Including giving those who are thirsty something to drink. I believe that includes a moral obligation to ensure that all americans have access to clean, safe and reliable water services. Fortunately i am not alone in that belief. Shortly after taking office, President Biden invited me and others to the oval office. He tasked us with a leading the charge on updating of federal Infrastructure Investments, including our highways, bridges and Water Systems. We rolled up our sleeves. We got to work after that meeting. We and our staffs worked together to draft the Drinking Water and wasteWater Infrastructure act. We invention this Bipartisan Legislation after our committee unanimously and posted it by an 892 vote. I will never forget that day. An 892 vote on some thing that came right through our committee and something we are normatively proud of. Are enormously proud of. The bipartisan infrastructure law present biden signed into law in november 2021, a day many of us will long remember. Today the bipartisan infrastructure law is the single largest water infra structure investment in our nations history. Through that law, congress is investing in an unprecedented 55 billion to improve Drinking Water and wasteWater Systems, including replacing lead Service Lines and addressing emerging contaminants. And it was fully paid for. Still, there is more than needs to be done. And what can be done . My hope is todays hearing will allow us to gain a deeper understanding of how the implementation of those historic funds is going. Our hearing also presents us with the chance to explore future opportunities to improve our Drinking Water infrastructure, and to make sure that the bipartisan infrastructure laws programs are benefiting communities with the greatest need too. While im excited to hear from all over witnesses, i want to take a moment to welcome back Keisha Powell to the committee. Ms. Powell testified before the committee in 2021 when we were drafting the water portion of the bipartisan infrastructure law. Her testimony was instrumental in moving that package forward and we look forward to hearing your perspective on the implementation today. As i mentioned, it is not a first hearing on examining our nations Water Infrastructure needs. It wont be the last either. Earlier this year we had a hearing with the epa System Administrator and other stakeholders to discuss some of these programs. Just this past may, senator padilla and others also held a water affordability hearing at the subcommittee level. While looking at low income Water Assistance Programs and what additional authorities or changes might be necessary to make those programs function even better. Later this month, that same subcommittee will be reviewing tribal water needs. I hope this series of hearings will help us and inform us of what we can do to ensure that these programs continue to work even better as we face changes in our climate, our population and infrastructure needs. With that, i am grateful to gree t our panel of witnesses. We look forward to hearing from you today as you represent state perspectives, city Water Utilities and rural water. Before that we will hear from the Ranking Member. You are recognized. Thank you, chairman carper. Hope you had a nice break in the beautiful state of delaware. This is a great opportunity for the committee to get an update from stakeholders on the progress, as the chairman has lined out explicitly, on what was enacted in the bipartisan infrastructure jobs act. It is nice to see you back in front of the committee. Todays hearing will focus on the critical importance of clean and efficient Drinking Water and wastewater symptoms and wasteWater Systems. It is vital that all americans have access to reliable water and sanitation that they can afford. The Drinking Water and wasteWater Infrastructure act authored by this committee is a critical component of the Infrastructure Investment and jobs act. It introduced new programs to meet the current needs and challenges in small, rural and disaffected communities. During this hearing we will hear the challenges we face in safeguarding our communities, the failure of and for mentation of policies from the iija, which was meant to ensure every individual has access to clean and healthy Drinking Water and wastewater, and how other federal policies may be helping or hindering efforts for communities to provide for the residents. The iija authorized 55 billion in funding for a variety of Water Infrastructure programs. These programs aim to address the issues faced by our nations Water Infrastructure, including grants for small and disadvantaged communities, funding for lead Service Line Replacement and support for innovative water technologies. The iija recognizes many committees are struggling with aging infrastructure and emerging contaminants. Small, rural and disadvantaged committees often lack the resources and expertise to tackle these challenges, leaving them vulnerable to Water Quality issues and Public Health risks. The iija offers funding opportunities for grants, lowinterest loans, and Technical Assistance to ease some of these burdens. As we work to implement and secure funding for these programs, its crucial to ensure resources are directed toward the communities most in need based on actual Public Health and environmental risks. The federal government must also provide the necessary Technical Assistance and training to support these programs. Many of our smoke amenities do not have the technical expertise. Our small communities do not have the technical expertise. I have concerns regarding the epa implement and directives from congress as it devotes substantial investments to our nations Water Infrastructure. The epa has repeatedly tried to impose its policies on states and communities, often in violation of the Authority Given to them by the safe water and dragging safe Drinking Water act. Obstacles imposed by federal regulators are especially inappropriate when elevated inflation eats away at historic Infrastructure Investment that America Needs and that were demanded of congress. Additional threats to reliability and affordability may come from other environmental regulations. In particular, failure to provide Liability Protections for Water Systems facing contamination will slam and Water Systems slam our Water Systems and only enrich trial attorneys. West virginia had to deal with pfas kim and nation pfas contamination. The concept of polluter pays has had broad bipartisan support over the years. That is why i find it truly perplexing to hear that environmental groups are actively lobbying against protection for Water Systems and other passive receivers. With pfas contamination going back decades and regulatory efforts to protect our Drinking Water, which i support, there will be an increasing need to support to protect our water system that had no hand in creating these chemicals. As we look to preserve safety and affordability of drinking and wasteWater Systems for the future, and maximize the benefits of the iijas investment, protecting passive receivers is Something Congress must get right. I will close by saying everyone in attendance already knows Water Infrastructure investments are critical to Public Health, Environment Health and economic develop. The successes we have had today have been based in cooperative federalism and enshrined in the safe Drinking Water and clean water acts. Communities and states know their needs the best and need a helping hand from the government, but not a heavy hand. Thank you for all you do to keep our countrys water and wasteWater Systems clean and healthy. I look forward to hearing your perspectives on these issues. Sen. Carper thank you for those words and the opportunity to continue our important and wonderful efforts in this committee on this front. I will introduce the secretary. I think senator cramer and will introduce eric. The secretary of the North Carolina department of environment equality. My wife sends her best. She is in North Carolina. The position you hold is a position i think you held since Governor Cooper appointed you to that leadership role about two or three years ago. This is your second tour of duty at the agency, having previously served as the departments director of legislative and intergovernmental affairs. In august of 2023, ms. Biser was elected to serve as president of the Environmental Council of s tate, a National Nonprofit association, Agency Leaders working to improve the capability of the states environmental agencies. Thank you for joining us today. Please proceed. Before you do, maybe i should introduce the other two witnesses. No no, we will hold off. You go ahead and we will let ben introduce ms. Powell. Thank you, senator carper, members of the committee, i appreciate the opportunity to be with you today and talk about the Infrastructure Investment and jobs act and the transformative investment it has helped enable in North Carolinas Water Infrastructure. One of North Carolinas Top Priorities is ensuring that everyone in our state has access to clean Drinking Water and reliable Water Infrastructure. Because without that, nothing else matters. I want to start by sharing with you a story about the community in North Carolina. The residents have been fighting for decades for the chance to connect the Public Water System. Governor cooper and i had an opportunity to hear from these residents about what it was like, knowing that when they washed white clothes, it would come out brown stained from well water, and when it got cold the pumps would go out. In 2022, thanks to federal funding, we awarded a 13. 2 million grant to run 40 miles of water lines to connect 350 homes in ivanhoe to the county water system for the first time. Other systems in our state are facing failing infrastructure, pumping stations that are being inundated as we have more frequent and more severe storm events. Even in liberty, North Carolina, they have orangeburg lines. It is wood pulp filled with tar. They are literally disintegrating in the ground. It is vital that we confront each of the needs to improve the resiliency of our system and to protect the health of our residents. I will add North Carolina had a head start on handling large sums of Water Infrastructure dollars. Our state leaders chose to allocate a significant portion of our American Rescue plan dollars to Water Infrastructure. It was 9. 1 billion. The first thing we did was evaluate our processes. Its easy to spend money but the challenge is investing it well. In order to ensure the record amount of funding we received reached communities like ivanhoe, we reimagined our grantmaking process. We canvassed every county Health Department in the state to identify where we had communities who did not have reliable access to clean Drinking Water or sewer services. We conducted outreach to nearby utilities to ensure they knew about these committees and encouraged them to do projects to connect these folks. We wanted to make sure it was not just the wellfunded biggest utilities ready to go, that we gave everyone in North Carolina an opportunity to benefit from these dollars. The changes are resulting in so far more than 2000 homes slated to be connected to public water for the first time. North carolina also has significant levels of pfas contamination, which has affected rural and urban areas alike. We especially worry about the burden on our small towns who cannot afford to shoulder the additional costs associated with treatment without outside help. The epa administrator and a fellow north carolinian came to a small town that discovered high levels of pfas contamination which was likely the result of firefighting foam. To announce iija funding for communities to illustrate the type of community that was intended to help. While a facility in North Carolina gave us early experience in dealing with forever chemicals, when a pfas chemical known as gen x was discovered in a river in 2017, we recognize pfas is larger than one company or one chemical. Deq has been working with public Water Systems to assess pfas levels and help prepare for the Upcoming National Drinking Water standards. We identified 43 of our municipal and county Drinking Water systems that serve 3 Million People that will need to take action to come to compliance and protect public. We are learning from and working with the public Water Systems that have already addressed pfas in our state. I will give you an exhibit of the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority you spent 43 million who spent 43 million on a carbon filtration system to treat pfas coming from the cape fear river. We know the testing and planning and design work has to take place before you are ready to construct a treatment system. This work can take a year to do. To help other utilities prepare, we are making a significant portion of the early rounds of early contaminant funding from iija available for planning grants to help these systems identify and design the best treatment system for their situation. We appreciate the 23 million per year over five years that North Carolina is receiving for emerging contaminants through iija, but this shows how much we will need. What we were getting so far is just scratching the surface of the needs of North Carolina. We estimate that just for our state it will take between 661 million and 1. 3 billion to install Treatment Technology at the 43 municipal and county Water Systems. That number does not take into account the number of small Water Systems which we are currently testing. All of this is on top of our normal Water Infrastructure needs because we have not invested for far too long the billions of dollars we need over the next two years. This reinforces the importance of iija and this committees work and the state revolving funds. I recognize this as a policy and not the appropriations committee, but as the newly elected president of the Environmental Council states, i would like to bring the committees attention to the longterm threats being posed to the state revolving funds by the fy24 appropriation bills. We are concerned about these developments of using congressionally directed spending out of the corpus of the funds. The proposed cuts would be devastating to the states capacity to meet current and growing environment on needs and what harm the partnership and would harm the partnership to protect health throughout the country. Using supplemental appropriations in the iija to offset cuts in the annual federal funding undermines the historic opportunity provided by this landmark legislation which was intended to extend financing for water entry structure to more committees. This is not to take our foot off the accelerator. North carolina will never stop working to ensure all residents have access to clean and reliable Water Infrastructure. I appreciate this committees commitment to that same goal. Thank you for allowing me to be here today. Sen. Carper since your selection as president of ecos, do you be prepared you prefer to be called president or madam secretary . Secretary is fine, thank you. You can introduce your and i thank her for her willingness to serve on the task force and thank you for being with us today. You are recognized. Thank you senator cardin and born, raised and educated in the city of baltimore. Thank you senators for the invitation to testify before you today. The general manager and c. E. O. Of water koa. And chair. The water has the honor is she here . She couldnt be here today. Im happy to report that we see progress. Overall we have received a total dollars because of the increased of clean Drinking Water funding with over 30 given in loan for giveness. It will receive just over 105 million from the state revolving funds. And the bioenergy project and sanitary and thank you for your support and leadership for advancing these. And historic decreases in federal climate and cyberthreats and addressing widens the funding gap. One of the most urgent issues is p fmp as and threatening waters emission to protect Public Health and maintain our track record. And we must hold the polluters financially responsible and not leave our customers to shoulder this burden. These factors have led to increasingly unaffordable water bills. According to the department ofhealth and human services, water is the Fastest Growing utility cost and the Congressional Budget Office 90 of Water Infrastructure is funded locally much higher than other types like roads and transit. I thank this committee for authorizing the water at the epa and providing 1. 1 billion in various packages for a program at h. H. S. Since 2020. We were able to provide 10 million in Financial Assistance and 4 million from the lowincome Water Assistance Program to assist. The eep program has never been funded and will soon expire without ending this critical lifeline. We must fund access to water and equally critical resource. On behalf of us, i thank Committee Members for your support and pledge to work with you the water sector challenges in years to come to create jobs, enhance Economic Growth safe guard our environment. This concludes my testimony. I will be happy to answer any questions. Thank you your testimony. And again before senator cramer introduces a witness, i want to say my colleague, back on the campus of the university of delaware last month and had an opportunity to speak and spoke to members on the campus about the intersection between if i had policy at the university of delaware and talked about sports and the upcoming football season and. [indiscernible] we also serves on several boards the north Dakota Water Coalition and past chair of the American Water works association. And i dont know what he does in his spare time and he is a twotime member of the hall of fame. And but actually resource to me and my staff. Thanks for the introduction. Please proceed. Good morning. My name is eric voalz and executive director. The association was established in 1974 and provides assistance, training and advocacy in rural water. A huge thanks goes to my staff that provides access to quality water. In 2022 we associated with the league of our cities to survie our water supply needs the need of 2. 1 billion in the 20 year need of north dakotas Drinking Program shows the need of 1. 1 billion op demands on the clean water side are similar. Huge needs on a state that has 280 residents. There are several Water Systems, engineers and to develop or projects are completed. We are appreciated of the investments being made to help our sit science. A key factor is labor which is required reductions in the number of crews they can limit. And a large amount of funding available for all infrastructure. Sore contractors are not as hungry as they were before. The cost of pipe is increasing. Since 2019, and increased and the cost of installing fire hydrants 135 people has more than doubled now more than 15 howrks. Various valves, drives and generators have long wait times. One system has been waiting a year and a half. And improving slowly. American manufacturers have been required to expand their and driven down lead times. Overall the cost of completing projects is increasing and hard for small systems to plan for to incleed them. Another important aspect is the multiple assistance provisions include i by to help communities and technical capacity. Rural water is proud to be the resource for small, rural, disadvantaged and tribal communities to comply with epa regulations and and funding for safely operating our utilities. The Regulatory Burden surrounding pfas is and supportive of the Liability Protection act. This legislation alliance with the goals to eliminate pfas by the principle for cleanups under the superfund law. The water sector is with 50 of our water workers estimated to leave the next 10 years. And Ranking Member capito, real water has accomplished a program. As of this year, 36 water associations have completed the process of obtaining apprenticeships programs. And over 60 apprenticees thank you mr. Chairman for giving me the opportunity to share real water perspective and we appreciate you in craftic policies. Thank you and thanks to all of you for your testimony. And leadoff the questions and senator capito. I may have to slip out a few minutes. As i mentioned in my opening staple. The poip infrastructure law provided more than 55 billion for Drinking Water and waste water improvements which is in addition to significant investments congress has made through the American Rescue plan. This was a downpayment and continued need is needed now. Epa released the Infrastructure Survey and assessment and 20year Drinking Water is 625 billion, that is 625 billion with a b. My question is a question for each of you, the question, i will start off please share with us, if you would, some of your beliefs with respect to the bipartisan infrastructure you are experiencing with respect to the bipartisan infrastructure laws funding and what you have been able to achieve in North Carolina and the financial gap that remains in your efforts to address and have spoken to this. Repetition is a good thing. Thank you for that question. One of the things we think about in North Carolina, people dont think about Water Infrastructure and when they turn on their water and dont have clean water or boil water or cant flush a toilet. As a result, we have underinvested for decades in our system. So this piece of legislation has provided a huge shot in the arm for us. You mentioned the eep needs a survey hundreds of billions of dollars in Additional Needs that is true in North Carolina. We have a study in the process of updating because it doesnt take into account and 1726 billion just for our basic Water Infrastructure. That is not including looking at the needs associated with upgrading our Drinking Water to deal with pfas. And that is quite significant. And we were only able in 2023 to find 9 of the 2. 6 billion that have been requested by our local utilities and that number has been held steady. We have had a record investment. 1 billion from the rescue plan from the funding we are getting and working hard to making sure that funding is reaching every funding that needs it in the state and not just rewarding those first in line but making sure we have local assistance. We have small and poor communities and we want to make sure that funding is reaching those communities as well. Senator carper and you said that is a lot. Ms. Powell, the same question. Certainly, our experience in working with stakeholders to make sure we got off to a good start to implement the infrastructure law has been a positive one. We understand there had to be guyedance provided up front for implementation and for the state of maryland, they took some time to update their definition of disadvantaged communities to make sure that funding is going to support communities across the state. We are starting to share funding from igaa and seeing some principal for giveness. But what we heard about in the hearing before, we need to see more funding in grants. Many communities cannot afford loans and we are constrained as well. And counts against the debt that we are taking out for our capital programs so there is a funding gap there. We submitted a list of requests and projected to receive 105 million. We are still shy of the need. I think it has been very good that we have been able to assist customers that need assistance getting their bills back in good standing. But those impacts listed before the pandemic and continue to persist. The last thing ill stress if i could, we talk about investment infrastructure. We cant forget about the people that run the facilities and physical the pipes. We have to invest in work force. Senator carper thank you for those words. Our group has been working very hard to navigate through the new rules and regulations to get the money out visiting with them in the last couple of weeks. Giving money out to all sorts of systems and those systems both on the clean water side and Drinking Water side from our very small up to our Largest Community in fargo. Senator capito there are lots going on and yield my first opportunity to senator boozman. Senator boozman i have to go into a farm bill important to you and i think to the witnesses. But i wanted to ask one question, regarding as Ranking Member on agriculture to you, i understand how critical it is to protect farm i. R. S. , ranchers and others not directly responsible for pfas from being appropriationly being held liable or subject to sweeping action that could wreak havoc on their ability to. And senatorial leum asis giving them assurance they wouldnt be pfas liability and rules to be finalizedded. And talk about providing farmers, ranchers and Water Utilities with the certainty. Thank you for that question. One of the things we did in North Carolina. Pfs is different. And it is called a chemical and stays in the region. And what we are doing is reviewing our rules and regulations to make sure we got commonsense measures that we are protecting the environment in that context and as you pointed out, i think it is a good and worthy conversation to have to make sure that we are looking where to appropriately draw those lines and pfas is operating differently. Senator boozman if they did go down to farmers, ranchers, Water Utilities, what effect would have that on North Carolina . I think about our farmers and public Water Systems. One of the main areas, ratepayers are paying for treatment costs to make sure their water meets safe for Public Health. I would hate to see ratepayers on the hook twice. Thank you for your question. Senator boozman thank you very much. Senator capito senator cardin. Mr. Cardenas a couple of years ago i was invited by a city councilman and trying to get Political Support for him but there is an opportunity to do grassroots politics. Every house where we knocked on the door, the question they raised were water prices and the affordability of water from our public utility. And you mentioned that in your testimony. And obviously and secretary, you are right, there is a tremendous shortage in the modernization and replacement of our Water Infrastructure and the pressure on our ratepayers make it impossible on the ratepayers that make it necessary but we are stuck with the sirgses where the rates are too high. We have the Liheap Program and you mentioned in your testimony that you used the koa individual relief funds and the bill contained a provision that i sponsored with senator wicker and senator stabenow to develop a Pilot Program on affordability with those who cannot afford it. Can you detail on the need for affordability as to the customers in your region strug gling to pay their current water bills as opposed to additional responsibility and the challenges that you have mentioned. Yes, sir, thank you for the question and thank you for your leadership on this issue as well. Since the start of the pandemic, we have applied over 10 million in Financial Assistance to 5500 customers through a variety of federal and statefunding resources 3. 75 million which has helped over 4,000 customers. The federal lowincome Water Assistance Program has been another opportunity for us to assist customers that have had needs and as i said, those needs existed before the pandemic because rates have been increasing and will continue to persist after. Right now we have over 90,000 customers that are behind on their water bills, leaving more than 51 million in arrears. And cant get the funding because we are notforprofit and we look to raise rates. And having a permanent lowincome Water Assistance Program is another way of providing the way to help customers with the rising cost of water and sewer bills because our costs to maintain the infrastructure we have. And new regulations that require us to invest billions of dollars will add to that financial burden. You mentioned the concerns on the ratepayers in North Carolina, do you have concern about that in your state . We want to make sure that water is affordable in the context of pfas. Their customers are paying extra 70 per year to pay for that treatment system. We are thinking about this all the time and make sure that everybody is at the table to help so the ratepayers dont shoulder the entire burden. And thank you for the baltimore system. This is a model governance and worked well in the suburb counties. It is well supported andred by all the jurisdictions. The baltimore system is one that is based upon the citys management which has been earl goes back 100 years. We have Serious Problems and i hope you can add expertise to have a structure to provide the needs for the customers that depend on the baltimore water authority. Yes, sir. I am looking forward to lending my expertise and the entire task force to ensure that the city of baltimore has the infrastructure for the water and waste water which is a regional utility. I started my Public Sector career as the head of bureau and i know the operation well and i know the challenges and those have become difficult over time and i do see that the city of baltimore is now starting to receive funding from igaa and i hope the work we do hopes to inform how those funds should be spent going this is for all td im going to start with you, mr. Volk. Im going to go back to the p foss issue. Circle liability creates a significant issue for passive receivers. You did not create it but it comes into your system. Often you are required to treat pfas due to regulations. Water is vulnerable due to the role of receiving and filtering pfas. I believe North Carolina, 43 systems installed, current systems. Treatment technologies to remove it and it gets in granulated carbon filters but it has to be transported and disposed of as you put new filters in. WasteWater Utilities must contend with industrial and residential contributors of pfas upstream. My questions are can you elaborate on the risks and costs associated with transporting and disposing of pfas contaminated materials and a circle liability impact to your ability to manage these byproducts effectively without fear of severe legal challenges . If the epa is requiring you to provide pfas free wastewater and drinking, are you caught between a rock and a hard place . Mr. Volk greatmr. Volk questions. A lot of these are on the minds not only the small overall systems of north dakota but across the nation. There are a lot of unknowns especially in our state with what the extent of the pfas is and if you find it, what you do with it and if youre told you need to dispose of it, where do i dispose of it . How much is it going to cost . Who is going to pay for it . If it is the ratepayer like we have talked, we are already strapped razor thin budgets. That is where being exempt from the liability would be an extreme help to Water Systems. The passive receiver. They did not profit from the pfas but now they are responsible for that exactly. Have you tested your Water Systems in North Carolina . Mr. Volk they have done a couple years of testing. We have been lucky it has come back with very few positives across the state. Would you respond to that . I would like to reinforce it please. Ms. Powell yes. I mentioned it in my statement we have been we initiated looking at alternatives to deal with pfas in Drinking Water. While we have done voluntary testing and it shows our levels are low and we would be under the mcl that has been proposed by epa, we have seen an anomaly in the data that shows a spike that could mean we are out of compliance in the future. That is why i mentioned financial compliance and operational risks associated with not only Drinking Water but also wastewater. We have to understand what will happen they are and bio solids. On the Drinking Water side, our estimates are upwards of a billion dollars to be able to address pfas in Drinking Water and just in terms of biosolids, the piscataway bioenergy facility project where we have received funding from the state, that project is upwards of 270 million dollars, the single largest investment we have made as a utility. It is supposed to be a positive one to take our i o solids to a class a to better manage biosolids. That investment stands to be threatened should we have to address pfas and biosolids. It is important utilities have the protection from liability. You have some experience with this with some of your systems already doing the carbon filters. What kind of liability issues are they having or would they have if we did not specifically exempt them from transporting and trying to managing once you catch it. It does not go away. What are you going to do with it . Ms. Biser thank you for that question. The two large systems we have dealing with this. One is the osmosis system. The other is the carbon filtration system. With the carbon system one of the things we worry about is there is air transport of pfas. As it gets refreshed it gets heated up. There is a lot we still need to learn about are we putting it back into the air where it continues the cycle . That points to a need for research and development as we are tackling these issues. It is a worthy conversation to have. Having everyone around the table to say what are the unintended consequences in how can we avoid consequences so we dont burden our ratepayers . Senator markley. Sen. Merkley . Welcome to you all. I want to direct my attention to you, mr. Volk. I have two pollution problems i want to address. One is in Marshall County. For decades people have had an exhilarating level of nitrates in their water where it is way above safety and they are expanding all kinds of health problems. They are adjacent to an area that does have a Public Water System. The 35 billion we have directed, wouldnt that be appropriate money to be spent to connect these folks to a Public Water System free of nitrates . Isnt that kind of the purpose . Mr. Volk yes, senator. I believe those would be questions to ask your department. That is just extra additional funding. There are additional subsidies that can be used. Definitely could be something to get those users on a reliable source of water. Sen. Merkley is in that kind of the core purpose of the money to help folks in will areas address this kind of challenge . Mr. Volk definitely. It would be up to each state to divvy that money up however they see fit. Sen. Merkley . Want to turn to another challenge in cook county. In cook county, we have had in 2022 a whole bunch of residents who have a high level of manganese has appeared in their water. Canada has a limit of 120 micrograms. The world health organization, 80 aiko grams. Epa is it the hundred micrograms. Is at 300 micrograms. The estimate for the impact of memory attention and motor skills is 120 to 400 micrograms. 10 of the 13 year by family wells have tested over the epa 300 level and one tested at over a thousand micrograms. People are incredibly worried about their health. The calves are dying at billy johnsons dairy. A Record Number of cals did pick number of cows dead. A farmer said it just chapped my backside goliath could get away with running over everybody else. The goliath is a gravel pit that opened nearby. In this case there is no Public Water System nearby to taft in. What can these funds do to help our Rural Farmers and families impacted in such a fashion . Mr. Volk i can only tell you what we have done in north dakota over the last 50 years. We have a Great Network of rural regional systems that would provide water to that farmer. We have worked hard on it. I know manganese is an issue in north dakota. We have been able to use the funding through the emerging contaminants section. That is eligible use. That is 100 subsidies so if they were able to hook up to a regional supplier like we have done in north dakota that would be an option for the rural residents and farmers. Sen. Merkley youre talking about piped water. Correct. Sen. Merkley of people are too far away to make that feasible, are there other things these funds can do . Mr. Volk we would have to get back to you on that. Sen. Merkley madam chair, i want to provide for the record several articles about both the nitrates in Marshall County and the challenge faced and the manganese in cook county. These two instances are examples of the sorts of challenges that people face. And it is not just the farmers and ranchers. The families Water Systems, their pipes, their filters, water heaters, toilets are filling up with lack sludge. With the black sludge. They cannot sell their homes. They are afraid to raise their children but they cannot afford to move. It seems to me these are exactly the sort of things we are trying to provide funds for to assist and i want us to find a way to help these communities. Without objection. Senator cramer. Sen. Cramer thank you, madam chair. Thank you to all of her witnesses for being here. You for your expertise. Im going to get to one of the process issues. Actually in some respects senator markleys questions are about the program in general and how states can use the various stacks in appropriate ways. One of the areas and we have talked about with the state Revolving Loan fund. But one of the areas regarding the bigger system is the area for rural people like me. This applies not just to water but to the highway piece of it as well that is to have a formula that consistently recognizes rural states and then unique needs. We dont have a formula that sends all the money to Large Population centers. We are talking about a multiple you system that connects and i appreciate your illustration to jeff with regard to the regional systems in north dakota that Work Together. Could you speak to the importance of the formula piece of this because the formula is often challenged when it is time to reevaluate and reauthorize the program. Maybe speak to that and you said something in your Opening Statement i would like you to speak more to. That is the Technical Assistance piece. In all my years in Congress Whenever this came up the thing i hear the most is the value of Technical Assistance. If you know how to apply for a grant it helps perhaps get the grant. Maybe speak to those two things. Mr. Volk thank you, senator cramer. Definitely on the formula and coming from a small state, we would love any changes or anything that would not harm small states with limited population just because we dont have the residence does not mean we dont have problems. We have unique problems whether it is miles of pipe between rural customers, extremely short construction season. Im looking forward to getting back to our Cool Temperatures in north dakota. It has been extremely here extreme and here in d. C. Normally as a small state we are minimally funded and we are ok with that as long as we are not adversely affected by any formula change based on a population alone. With the Technical Assistance, that is the heart of our association. We have been around since 1974 helping when they were first starting rule systems in the state and morphed into training, technical and Financial Assistance. All of the Waste Systems in the state. My staff is going in a in and day out helping with finding leaks, fixing things, helping them fill out loan applications. Having them connect to the funding sources. Helping them higher in engineer. Some of the small systems have parttime staff volunteers. The assistance is to us the boots on the ground. They know us. We live in their communities. We live in the state. We are not there one day and never to be seen again. We are there for the long haul. Sen. Cramer i might follow that up with the next point. The Technical Assistance helps 11 professionals with over 300 systems. What you have just described is the way you maximize those resources. That does not change the fact there is a significant workforce challenge. There is in every industry. Space force is doing well i guess. Beyond that there is a workforce problem in our country. I think it was your testimony where you said you expect 50 of the workforce in your industry will be leaving within 10 years. Each of you can answer shortly. What is the plan . How do we deal with this or do we recruit more humans . Mr. Volk part of the problem we are trying to address with our Apprenticeship Program. We have the standard set up and like i said there are 36 states and north dakota is one of them. We are relatively new in the process of apprenticeship. We have a Workforce Development coordinator. To help navigate through the rules and regulations of the Apprenticeship Program. Trying to change the narrative in our business where in smalltown north dakota it is usually if your operator leaves, who is the next person up . You bring someone in and they dont have the experience and it is a vicious cycle. We are trying to change the cycle change the culture. It is a great noble profession. They do great work everyday so we are working hard to use the Apprenticeship Program to get the next generation of workers. Sen. Cramer thank you. Sen. Markey senator padilla and then senator ricketts. The law provides 49 for additional subsidize asian. Is that customarily treated as a cap . Mr. Volk the 49 is the i believe and i know we have had some discussions with is that enough. Assuming it is a cap, what effect does it have on communities that dont have the ability to afford the match in a terms of being able to access the iija funds . Mr. Volk i a great question. We are struggling with that i and with dakota. 49 subsidy would go on to the customer and most of that lead is going to be in your older neighborhoods, your disadvantaged communities so we are going to we are struggling with getting that and finding a balance with the affordability. Sen. Whitehouse ms. Powell, in rhode island we were seeing a lot of damage to our Water Treatment infrastructure related to Climate Change. We had very powerful unprecedented rain events that have flooded out. For instance a major city of ours, cranston, a Sewage Treatment facility and it is unpleasant to be downstream when a Sewage Treatment facility floods out. Narragansett has had to build a daikon, a a dyke, a berm. Another town is having to plan expensive move with immediate protection of its Water Treatment facility. How well does the iija fund of the needs communities are facing to deal with these unprecedented flooding events driven by Climate Change in our relentless pollution of the fossil fuel industry. Ms. Powell thank you for the question. We are dealing with the impacts of drought conditions. We had a meeting to talk about moving to a drought watch. It really is impacting every community. East coast, west coast, northsouth. I think the structure is there in iija. The authorization is there. The appropriation needs to be there. Sen. Whitehouse me also ask you about micro plastics. We are starting to see that turnout more and more in Drinking Water. We see it appear in mothers breast milk. We see it appear in the end result of the babys diaper that has gone through. We see it falling in the rain in colorado. We dont understand what the dangers are of micro plastics when consumed by humans. The bill provides 10 million of emerging contaminants. Is it true micro plastics are one of only 10 emerging contaminants . Given the upgrades necessary to deal with micro plastics, is 10 billion a sufficient number . Ms. Powell the short answer is it is not sufficient. We focused a lot on pfas. Sen. Whitehouse which would be an emerging contaminant . Ms. Powell which would be an emerging contaminant. Our projections to deal with that are upwards of a billion dollars. Sen. Whitehouse you mean your projections. Ms. Powell yes sir. We need to have regulatory certainty. We need to have a comprehensive roadmap to deal with emerging contaminants on the horizon holistically so that we are making investments in infrastructure upgrades makes sense. Sen. Whitehouse i would wrap up by suggesting some flexibility around the 49 for communities that dont have a lot of resources and additional funding for infrastructure that faces climate related damage, flooding, drought drying out conditions whatever they are. And an expansion of the 10 billion which has to cover both pfas and micro plastics in addition to whatever other emerging contaminants are out there would be helpful to you. Ms. Powell yes, sir. Sen. Whitehouse is that a yes also . And ms. Biser is also nodding. Sen. Markey head nods are important. I think our next senator molen. Sen. Mullin . We all face unique challenges being from the midwest and will states like oklahoma and north dakota. Even major metropolitan areas such as boston and new york, san francisco, l. A. We all have issues facing us when it comes to clean water. Sometimes policy related. Sometimes neglect. Sometimes a lack of funding. What we do know is one size does not fit all. Need to give municipalities, states flexibility to allow them to a lot of times in congress we may have good intentions. Sometimes it is politically driven. Sometimes it is policy driven anything that is what we are trying to do here is have good sound policy. But one size never fits all. When we throw at you but is not a money 55 billion is a lot of money for anybody. And we put restrictions on it. I think we hear from all of our witnesses we know where it needs to dope. Where it needs to go. We need the flexibility to do so and if we are going to be funding these projects, we need to make sure we get those dollars as close to the state, as close to the individual providing us services as possible and give us the tools to do it without having the restrictions which happen so often with federal funding. Every dollar has so many strings on it they cannot even access at. That is what i believe mr. Vol, you were saying. Just to get through the bureaucracy to get the funding is a miracle sometimes in itself. My question to you is what tools do you need for rule parts of the country which is mostly midwest. If the money is there, what tools do you need to access it . Mr. Volk senator, great question. Things we talk about all the time. The flexibility would be immensely grateful. With our state folks, they would love that. The technical sen. Mullin flexibility in white. Dont use the dollars for certain projects without having restrictions . Flexibility on navigating the bureaucracy . Mr. Volk especially with this funding, with the lead component on our waterside, we run the risk in our state of not spending down our First Tranche of money and we could not apply for the next money until we spent that down. We run the risk if we dont apply for that before september 2024 we could lose that money and that would be reallocated. So some timing flexibility for our state to navigate the lead like the lead Service Line Inventories are not due to the state until october 16, 2024 they have to apply for the new funding, the next years funding of the lead in september 2024 so the funding is ahead at this point of the true problem. The state does not fully know the magnitude of the total led replacement. We have an idea but some of the flexibility would be great so they would not run the risk of losing that. Maybe a little more time. Could use it at another point. Sen. Mullin would it be helpful instead of each ms. Appellate he or each district trying to apply for the grant themselves where the footing themselves, would it be helpful if we were to if congress through the epa were to give the money to the states that have like in Oklahoma Department of environmental quality. In north dakota im sure you have an Environmental Agency that could help manage it too. Get it to them and allow them to help disperse dollars in areas and set the timing you need that is more designed to actually be practical for you guys to achieve what you are trying to get done. Mr. Volk normally that is how it would work with their base funding through the program. They have intended use plan they would go off and it is on a ranking system. If there are Health Issues or things like that. They have that flexibility. It is some of the tightness. Sen. Mullin so the timing is the thing you need the most help with. I yield back. Sen. Markey senator padilla. Sen. Padilla let me begin by reminding you how proud i am of the work Risk Committee has done to address water affordability for underserved communities while also working to expand access to water reuse and recycling and reduce lead and Drinking Water. It serves as a foundation for the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment in jobs act as i know you are proud of. This last june i chaired a subcommittee hearing examining the challenges facing Water Systems across the country and the impacts of aging Water Infrastructure as we have been talking about in this hearing already. The effect that aging infrastructure has on the ability of families to pay their water bills. The cost of water is rising. Household water and wastewater bills have increased 160 since 1998. Just to put it in context, that is a greater rate of growth than the rise in cost for electricity, rent or even medical bills. In 2021 congress created the temporary low income household Water Assistance Program in response to the covid19 pandemic. We also authorized a new epa Pilot Program to help Water Systems address low income water affordability. The authorization for the Program Expires at the end of the month. I know senator cardin talked to you earlier about your experience in taking advantage of the Resources Available and what it meant for customers able to receive aid but can you emphasize for me and the committee when the Program Expires you might be able to ensure low Income Customers will continue to afford their water and sewer bills . Ms. Powell thank you, senator padilla, for the question. We are also looking to develop new customer Assistance Programs and enhance the customer Assistance Program we already have but we found having it in place we were able to assist more than 4000 customers with the cost of their water and sewer bills. That helped them get their accounts back in good standing. It also help to the utility to be able to move forward with are a Critical Mission of investing in infrastructure and our people. One of the things we are planning to do and we have been working with water and wasteWater Utilities across the country is to advocate for a Permanent Program. Need the authorization and we need the appropriation. Sen. Padilla you anticipated my followup question. I know it has been a temporary program but sounds like you believe a Permanent Program should be part of the federal safety net. Ms. Powell absolutely because there are some states and communities that do not have the enabling legislation for individual utilities to have their own customer Assistance Program. Having a federal low income household Water Assistance Program akin to the program that helps with energy is appropriate for this resource. Sen. Padilla i will not raise the subject of pfas but i do want to associate myself with the comments, questions and concerns raised earlier. I will ask instead about another issue which is not unique to california but california seems to be exhibit a. Need to emphasize disaster resiliency. You have seen no shortage of challenges and opportunities ensuring access to clean Drinking Water and safe wastewater especially when it comes to natural disasters. Just last week, communities in and around san diego faced a boil water advisory av after th fir. Tropical depression by the time it made landfall. This comes after a winter where we saw more than 30 Atmospheric River storms flooding communities throughout the state. Stress Water Supplies and even here in the d. C. Region. Another question for you, how has the d. C. Drought impacted you . We had normal operations. We did have a call earlier this year to talk about how we will deal with the ambitions because we are making upgrades to our potomac. We have specific limitations. It is critical that we not only plan for the future but also for resiliency. We need to work and the region to advance the water supply. Thank you. Thank you for speaking about the role challenges facing these communities. In north dakota, we do a lot of winter storms and ice storms are very big. We need to make sure all of our Small Community can keep enough water so it is a concern that we have in our northern climate. Thank you very much, thank you, mr. Chair. I just want to say thank you for your leadership before you leave. I should mention, the subcommittee hearing this is my partner on the subcommittee. I know you try to do this at every opportunity. We are joined by until we are joined by senator sullivan, i want to ask a question of the secretary. We need to take a moment to discuss disparity quick thank you, senator. We recently did some studies on this very topic. We found it cost about 50 to 100 per pound. That is quoted disparity. Another question for all, cybersecurity attacks in the United States are of increasing concern. The community as they serve. By the American Water works association. Additional resources for utilities to both invest in the resiliency of these systems as well is to respond to attacks. Another great question. For an association, we strive to provide that technical and i we are very hooked up to the world. They can also be a curse when the bad actors find us. There are very small systems. People got on there, they dont know exactly what theyre looking at. Luckily we were able to stop that. We have some very intelligent experts working handtohand. The same question. Our cyber info structure is just as important. We have systems that are connected that have to be protected. There are bad actors that are trying to edit our water system, every water system every time. I think this is increasingly becoming a prime target for bad actors. The long and short of it is they need to be there to support those efforts it is certainly a new challenge. It is a clear and present danger to systems. Are you doing senator . Grade. Ready to go as always. And others is an important question. I have a bunch of questions on some of the topics. Is it safe to say that all three of you agree there should be some element of limitation on liability . Was that your testimony response . I think it is a good conversation have. We want to make sure we are not overburdening. I think it is important for utilities to have those protections and lets focus beyond the costs. All the sudden i am seeing they might say a lot of these entities will go bankrupt. What about you . The small systems would totally agree they should not be held responsible. This is really for everybody. This administration talks a lot about Environmental Justice and environmental equity. I thought in your bio. I have no issue with that. I said in this committee a one million times. If you are in alaska native or an indigenous person from alaska, you dont you get attacked by this administration. We had another legal outrage that the administration canceled leases. You had to do it. It was decided by congress over 70 years ago. I want to submit the joint alaska delegation on this for the record. The vast majority of the people on this press release are alaska natives. They are screaming what are you doing . Are you taking away our jobs . I have every day with this administration. Why did they get so outraged . I want to show you this. That is the American Medical Association chart. That is from 19802014. America Life Expectancy increases. Also, Life Expectancy decreases. The place in our country that increased 11 expectancy the most by far, alaska. Up 13 years. Our rural communitys and indigenous communities. Life expected super native alaskans was the lowest in the country by far. These from 1980 and on, we have jobs, clinics. This is about water and sewer. This is in a lot of these places. Up to 13 years. What is more important . Is the people you are represented represent are living longer . I dont know. This administration took a whack at that, trying to make my constituents live less long. Deb haaland is the native american. A lot of the revenues that come from this kind of resource . Water and sewer. My state has over 30 communities that dont have any running water. It is all indigenous people. Do you think that is Environmental Justice . These are the most patriotic americans in the country. My question for the panel is in terms of formulas, the epa administrator was in alaska. Just over august, we did a meeting with alaska natives. I have shown that chart many times. In terms of formula for the modern sewer, dr. Think it should prioritize just for fairness, racial justice, Racial Equity . The communitys that dont have anything there was a lot of talk about aging infrastructure. I think a lot of times we miss no infrastructure. Shouldnt we be prioritizing communities in america that dont have anything . This is not right in my view. Maybe you can start. Thank you for the question. And the awareness. I was a from a personal standpoint and ive said many times, i believe equity is about communities having what they need so that all communitys can thrive having been in the water sector for some time, i am not here to speak on behalf of the water sector. I can tell you i dont know anyone that believes we should trade the needs of the unserved or underserved. I think every Community Needs to have this. I think this historic investment in water and infrastructure or being able to provide wasteWater Infrastructure needs to be fully funded, sustainable and long so every community can thrive on equal footing. Thank you. Anyone else . We share your concern to make sure we are getting the funding where it is made the most. We have a lot of communities bypassing this. We are getting our funding canvassed. We are trying to find out which committees did not have service or reliable service. So far we have connected over 2000 homes for the first time and we are still working on that. This requires as changing our process. Extra points on the criteria to make sure we are meeting the needs of our residents. In north dakota, we worked hard with the various state partners, federal partners to meet the gap of those underserved not only we have tribal nations to meet those needs but there are other places in the state where it is limited water, limited sewage in this day and age. It is crazy. This should go close to the top. Glad you could join us. I will have a question or two. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for being here today. Very interesting to see the big states, small states, will have some similarities and different concerns. My last question is around risky communications. We have an incident in ohio where there was a train derailment. And there was of great concern expressed by me and many others, the impacts and the chemicals being carried. We had a hearing on. One of the things that came out of that came out of this hearing was the miscommunication, not just the epa but you will deal with epa. In this case, it was not as good as it could be. The committee was at risk because of an accident. Im sure people helped with this. Ive had this in my own community, to have appropriate Risk Communications is absolutely essential. Dont Say Something and then expand on a 24 hours later, react immediately, science, all these things. What expanse do you have in this . What Risk Communications put additional burdens on your state . You had your state entities reacting, your governor reacting. I am interested in the federal level of communication. Thank you. We spent a lot of time thinking about this. Only have one area that we deal with a lot, that is with pfs. As residents get testing, they find out they have high levels of pfs. Want to make sure you are providing actionable science. , giving them what their options are and making sure they are not complicit. We try to spend a lot of time in advance. Sometimes you dont have as much time to pointed out for east palestine. We answer because every day from residents concerned about these issues. We work with our fellow states and local partners to make sure we have a whole of government approach to ensure an answer. We want to make sure there is consistency within agencies. You have different types of reports. The epa has not set the drinking level. Probably three years to do this. This is at a level that is untestable. They come back with a drinking level higher than level to put out last year. They had a risk to it. They infused messages who find it in their water system. So i appreciate what you all do every day. All kinds of contaminants and other things that happen. The general public relies on you to make sure the information theyre getting is not just accurate but you are relying on other people for information. I think that is an area we really need to stay on and be as vigilant as possible. Thank you all very much for being here. Thank you. I have one last question and then we will wrap it up. This is for you. Bipartisan infrastructure includes some 15 billion in funding. Many districts across our country have been busy this year, creating inventories. It is as is what kinds of problems exist in their respective areas. They did not know if they could assess the funding to replace lead Service Lines. You work to address this challenge. As i shared in my testimony, i am happy part of our progress is receiving projected funding for our inventory and replacement work. We are developing a comprehensive program so that when we have the data, we will be able to help those that had led Service Lines. There will need to be policies that encourage the lead Service Lines. There needs to be the funding in place to help customers with cost as well. We are projected to receive funding. We will look forward to applying for more as we know more. I will give each of you maybe 30 seconds. We will get ready for that start voting. Thank you for letting me speak here. They do a great job day in and day out. We talk shoestring budgets and limited staff. Sometimes in the water business when you make the news, it is not for new things. They do nothing to save the day for the residents. That is what i want and with. Recognizing the people in the trenches. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me here again. I would focus on workforces as well. We can talk about other funding we need for infrastructure. We will be putting money into that and maintaining those investments. Thank you for your focus on workforce as well. I just want to say thank you to team h2o. I mentioned this earlier. It was unusual for us to be out for a month. I always ask three questions. How are you doing, how are we doing . What can we do to help . People say what we need is people will come to work who will come to work. We have the lowest Unemployment Rate we have in years. I think we have had almost eight or 9 million jobs open. People are allegedly looking for work. This is at the state level, local level, federal level. Workforce with the skills that are needed in all kinds of jobs. Thank you for your leadership. I want to continue the theme. The grants that are getting out or coming back to us in the form of permits. We have a 24 vacancy rate for engineers. This is a major focus across the country. Categorical grants. While i know this is a policy committee, there is index to spare. As we are seeing stagnant rates of funding, our possibilities are growing. We are going to make sure we have these resources to recruit and maintain hug highly qualified staff. We have been joint for stretches as long as we could. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you for waiting. Thank you, all of you for being here today. It is important hearing. Secretary bud, i want you to talk about the fast contamination and Drinking Water. As a member of the 11 democrats that were to negotiate the law, one of the Top Priorities here was dedicated funding for Drinking Water systems to respond to pfs contamination. Pfas contamination. In the state of arizona, the funding has already been put to work. Drinking Water Systems specifically in the southern part of the state, install systems to remediate its plume that we see in the groundwater aquifer where i live and my wife lives. It is under tucson. The epa has developed new Drinking Water standards for pfas. It would be four parts per trillion. Instead of the current guidance which is 70. While the epa has not finalized standards, if proposed levels were finalized, how would they react to our Drinking Water systems . How many additional systems are there in the state of arizona as an example . Thank you for your leadership. I can speak to North Carolinas experience with that. We have 43 municipal county systems that are far four parts per trillion. I will say that broadly speaking, i got a head start because we had an industrial facility. That forced us to be a leader in this area. Weve had a number of years to do assessment. I think nationwide, states he funding to get a handle on where this is. The most costeffective way to treat it is to keep it from happening in the first place. We need funding to see where it is coming from. Stop putting into the environment. Look at how we can better control that. We need to get a handle on where we are finding it. We need to test large Water Systems but also small. There are over 650 of our small Water Systems. Other sensitive population centers. Having the funding and ability to do that, principally is what well get our arms around it overall and we will make sen. Kee how you would need to remove the system and would you think the cost would be . Ms. Biser there were not a lot of systems currently put in place. We have two systems that were larger because of higher levels of pfas contamination, they had put in place two systems that we are looking to right now. Based scion their experience in the cost, we are estimating up to 1. 3 billion dollars for those three large Water Systems to come into compliance. That does not include the small Water Systems that are going to need to put filtration in place. We do not have a number there yet because results of those tests, we do not have a complete picture. Sen. Kelly are there any future methods to remove pfas, anything that is being developed during any innovation that could get us to four parts per trillion at a potentially lower cost . Ms. Biser i know there is a lot of research on going. They are looking at potential opportunities but there are none that are scalable that i am aware of that are commercially and available in a widespread fashion. But i am encouraged we have a lot of r d going. I think we need more, not only on treatment systems, but also how to assess so that we have the ability to destroy the pfas. Thank you for making the extra effort. I want to really close with where we began and that is to thank you not just for showing up today and not just for your thoughtful responses to the questions and the issues that we have raise. The members of this committee are very proud of the work we have done on infrastructure for our country. It is not something we do just that the federal level. It is very much a team effort. It does not get any more important than water knowing that when we true on the spigots what we drink will be safe. We used to have good attendance at our hearings, but this has been exceptional and i think it is reflective of how important we regard these issues. We need to continue to make progress. You have given us good input as to how we might be guided missiles as opposed to unguided missiles. Bipartisan infrastructure at made historic investments in Drinking Water infrastructure across our nation. Theres still a lot of work to do. As robert frost would say, miles to go before we sleep. Still plenty of work to do. We have every intention of remaining active. We have to do our job as oversight. It is an important part of our job. We want to stay active with our state and local partners to ensure safe Drinking Water remains available to everyone in this country. Before we adjourn, a couple of final items. We have some wonderful members of this committee. We are blessed with great staff. These hearings do not just occur. The staff collaborate and Work Together and give us a panel all thoughtful witnesses. Todays no exception. This is my favorite part of the hearing. I get to ask unanimous consent to enter in the wrecker materials related to todays hearing and and i had the senators be allowed to submit questions for the record. When i asked unanimous consent and there is nobody here to object, i know i get my way. Hearing no objection, we will comply with those questions and send them to all of you. We ask that you reply to us by thursday, october 5. Anything else . With that, one less thing to our friend from north dakota. Tell your friends out there to take it easy on the blue hands. It is not a fair fight. Adjourned