WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (D-MI-03), alongside U.S. Congressman Brian Mast (R-FL-21), introduced the Local Water Protection Act. This bipartisan legislation would reauthorize an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant program that provides funds for states to develop and implement programs that manage nonpoint source water pollution, or pollution from diffuse sources including runoff from farms, managed forests and urban areas.
“In West Michigan, water is truly a way of life,” said Rep. Scholten. “I’m proud to lead this commonsense, bipartisan legislation to strengthen our pollution prevention and management programs, which will help keep our communities clean and healthy. One of my top priorities in Congress is ensuring access to clean water for every family in West Michigan and across the country, and I look forward to working across the aisle to get this important bill passed into law.”
“There is no issue more critical to Florida’s 21st District than the fight for clean water. Water is our way of life, and our businesses, communities, and economy depend on it,” said Rep. Brian Mast. “Few natural resources are as vital to Florida and the nation as our estuaries, yet too often our waterways are labeled unsafe by toxic algal blooms and pollution threatening public health. The Local Water Protection Act is another important tool in our ongoing fight to protect clean water.”
States address nonpoint source water pollution largely through voluntary means and financial incentives. The Local Water Protection Act would reauthorize $200 million annually for the voluntary grant fund to give local and state governments the flexibility to make conservation improvements aimed at decreasing water pollutants through partnerships within their communities.
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