I had an opportunity to speak about water issues—specifically the water infrastructure reform bill I introduced with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)—with over 300 members of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) during their visit to Capitol Hill this week.   

My message was simple: water infrastructure is not a rural issue, or a big city issue. It is not a red state problem or a blue state problem. This is a national emergency, and one where we can find bipartisan support. 

Evidence of that can be found in the wide-range of support our bill has garnered in the Senate. The cosponsors of the bill—the Securing Required Funding for Water Infrastructure Now or SRF WIN Act—are split evenly between Republicans and Democrats and include senators from large and small states. 

My colleagues who have lent their support to the SRF WIN Act see the need for common-sense reform to the way we invest in water infrastructure. Our bill accomplishes that by combining the best aspects of state revolving funds (SRFs) with the leveraging power of the Water Infrastructure and Innovation Act (WIFIA) to make the process easier and more affordable for states to meet their underserved or unmet water infrastructure needs. This approach dramatically increases the availability of funds to communities across the nation while substantially reducing the time, and related costs, for completing projects. 

Senator Booker and I believe this innovative approach can help communities of all sizes, across the country, secure loans so they can improve their crumbling infrastructure. With the help of professionals in organizations like NACWA, we can continue to build support for the legislation here in the Senate, as well as for the companion bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen John Katko (R-NY) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). 

We can, and must, work together to provide all Americans safe, and reliable drinking water and effective wastewater and storm water treatment.