New PA Water Quality Bill Would Hold Industry Accountable

HARRISBURG — A state senator from Montgomery County has joined with a state representative from Lancaster to introduce legislation in both chambers of the General Assembly that they say is designed to help improve water quality across the commonwealth.

State Sen. Katie Muth, D-44 and State Rep. Mike Strula, D-96 jointly announced the introduction of the Pennsylvania Water Resource Act in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

The measure would charge users referred to as "extraordinary" water consumers a nominal per-gallon fee for removing water from Pennsylvania waterways.

These extraordinary users are defined as those commercial users who withdraw more than 10,000 gallons of water per day from Pennsylvania waterways. By comparison, an individual resident uses about 100 gallons daily.

The companion legislation is Senate Bill 868 and House Bill 20. Both bills currently sit in committee where they await further action.

According to a sponsorship memo for Muth's senate bill, Pennsylvania has nearly 7,000 impaired waterways, which is the most number out of any state in the country. Muth says that nutrients, sediment, acid mine drainage and erosion are the many factors contributing to the state's poor water quality issues.

Muth said that while "Pennsylvanians are faced with paying tens of billions of dollars to improve our water quality and maintain a resource that is rightfully theirs," commercial industries, like utilities, bottled water suppliers, and oil and gas extraction businesses, take or "borrow" water from Pennsylvania's waterways "as part of their business model and pay nothing for it."

"I am grateful to work with Representative Sturla on companion legislation to establish the Pennsylvania Water Resource Act and to ensure that our most precious natural resource is protected and safe to drink," Muth said in a statement. "Our bill would allow the Commonwealth to invest in water improvement and stormwater management projects without placing any financial burden on residential and agricultural water consumers. Improving the quality and accessibility of clean water should be a priority for all legislators."

Sturla said that the proposal is expected to raise $350 million each year to help state agencies, localities, water authorities and watershed organizations improve water quality throughout Pennsylvania.

"For too long, Pennsylvania has allowed its precious water resource to be used for free by extraordinary water users who take over 8 billion gallons of water every day," Sturla said in a statement.

Under the legislation, extraordinary water users would be charged fees, either 1/1000 of a cent per gallon ($0.0001) for those who return the water or 1/10 of a cent per gallon ($0.001) for those who never return it. This would translate to a 10,000-gallon withdrawal costing $1 per day or $10 per day.

Under the measure, the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority would be charged with creating and managing a Water Use Fund that would distribute the money to the watershed where the fees were generated to be used for local water improvement projects, such as stormwater management and the installation of riparian buffers.

Riparian buffers are vegetated buffer strips near a moving waterway that help to shade and protect the waterway from the impact of urban, industrial or agricultural land use.

The legislation would also provide funding to state agencies, including $30 million to the Department of Environmental Protection, $25 million to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, $11 million to the Department of Agriculture and $5 million for the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission.