The Global Water Center has received two grants worth a total of $499,439 from The Coca-Cola Foundation to support multiple initiatives that will utilize training, technology, and relationships to create sustainable, local solutions for water problems worldwide.

“The Coca-Cola Foundation’s generosity has significantly accelerated the Global Water Center’s ability, and that of our partners, to help more people have access to safe and reliable drinking water,” said Thomas Johnston, chief executive officer of the Global Water Center. “This grant will allow the Global Water Center to more-effectively share knowledge and resources with individuals, organizations, and governments that will strengthen their ability to deliver safe water where it is most needed.”

Initially, The Coca-Cola Foundation awarded the Global Water Center with a grant of $349,939 to provide solar-powered water systems (SPWS) training to government engineers and consultants from the Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Department in Karnataka, India. The GWC’s training method involves equipping master trainers with the skills to train 300 to 500 engineers who will go on to train thousands of their colleagues in SPWS. This will support the government of Karnataka’s ability to achieve its goal of supplying safe water to the more than 60 million people in the state. Then The Coca-Cola Foundation gave the Global Water Center an additional $149,500 to support the delivery of online courses, create new capacity building material, and provide technical assistance. In 2024, the funding will expand the Global Water Center’s courses in three ways:

-The delivery of each solar-powered water system course (SPWS 101 and 201) in English and French.

– The translation of the two existing SPWS courses into Spanish, enabling these courses to reach new global audiences.

– The development and design of a SPWS operations and maintenance guide, which will equip operators with the ability to sustainably deliver safe and reliable water.

Additionally, the $149,500 grant will support technical assistance to The Coca-Cola Foundation’s implementing partners who are designing, installing, and operating rural water systems.

Through the partnership of The Coca-Cola Foundation, the Global Water Center will rapidly expand its courses and technical assistance to address water scarcity and energy challenges in regions where people have limited access to safe and reliable water. Ultimately, the funding will be used to help decrease water poverty worldwide.

About the Global Water Center

The Global Water Center believes everyone deserves access to safely managed water. As the go-to resource for the rural water sector, its safe water training courses have reached people in 81 countries. In addition to training, it also uses technology to make water projects effective and reliable. All of its efforts are rooted in collaboration with nonprofits, governments, and other entities to solve the global water crisis.

About The Coca-Cola Foundation

The mission of The Coca-Cola Foundation is to make a difference in communities around the world where The Coca-Cola Company operates and where its employees live and work. It support transformative ideas and institutions that address complex global challenges and that leave a measurable and lasting impact. Its giving is focused on sustainable access to safe water, climate resilience and disaster risk preparedness and response, economic empowerment, and causes impacting its hometown community. Since its inception in 1984, The Coca-Cola Foundation has awarded grants of over $1.5 billion in service of its mandate to strengthen communities across the world.

The American Business Water Coalition (ABWC) has released a report that addresses the urgent need for the federal government to drastically increase water infrastructure funding and protect the nation’s businesses and local economies. The new ABWC business impact fact sheet, “10 Extreme Water Disasters in 10 Days Shut Down Local Economies Across the Nation,” gathers a list of water infrastructure failures directly tied to extreme weather and business loss in or surrounding major metropolitan areas in all regions of the country between the dates of January 14 and 23.

Key events highlighted in the report include the following:

1. Memphis, Tenn., was placed under a boil water advisory between January 18 and 23 following numerous water main breaks, impacting 600,000 people and wreaking havoc on businesses, many of which had to cease or significantly alter operations.
2. Philadelphia suffered several large water main breaks following freezing temperatures, resulting in extreme street flooding and water shut-offs between January 22 and 23 for 80 affected properties.
3. Metairie, La., the largest community in Jefferson Parish, placed 250,000 residents and all businesses in the community under a boil water advisory on January 23 following a massive break of an 80-year-old water main. Grocery stores, hospitals, schools, and other businesses were forced to limit services or cease operations until the advisory was lifted on January 25.

“This report only scratches the surface of what is happening as a result of underfunded water infrastructure,” said Mae Stevens, chief executive officer of ABWC. “These events, which include water main breaks leading to water shut-offs and boil water advisories, will likely occur more frequently in the future if the federal government continues to underinvest in our nation’s water infrastructure. Every business, no matter how big or how small, is dependent on water to operate. We are past due for this to be made a priority.”

Currently,  5 percent of all nationwide investment is in water infrastructure. Restoring the country’s water systems simply to meet the current needs will cost at least $1 trillion over the next 25 years—without taking into account the impacts of climate change or other future environmental threats. Without a dramatic increase in federal investment, every business and community in the U.S. is at risk, with real-world effects showcased in this report.

The ABWC is a group of water-reliant businesses—from manufacturing to energy to technology and beyond. The coalition provides a platform for businesses across the U.S. to urge Congress and the current administration to increase investment in water infrastructure, and foster relationships between businesses and their local utilities.

 To download the ABWC report, go to www.businesswatercoalition.com.

As the Biden administration works to remedy one of the most pervasive drinking water contamination issues in the United States, some states are banding together to push back.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach is leading a coalition of state attorneys general from 14 other states in opposition to the National Primary Water Regulations for Lead and Copper plan to replace more than 9 million lead pipes in the U.S. According to a letter from Kobach, the attorneys general estimate the removal and replacement of pipes would cost more than $60 billion. So far, Congress has set aside $15 billion for the project.

High-profile lead contamination incidents caused by outdated infrastructure in Flint, Mich., and Jackson, Miss., as well as other areas, have pushed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to mandate replacement of lead-based pipelines within the next 10 years. That undertaking has already run into obstacles, including financial concerns and challenges in identifying the old service lines.

Leading the opposing coalition, Kobalch has described the plan as “heavy handed” and “overreach by the Biden administration.” He alleges that the regulations would force homeowners to pay to replace their own lines if they contain lead and connect to a city line.

Attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming have joined the opposition.

A group of attorneys general from 13 Democrat-led states are arguing, however, that the EPA mandate does not go far enough.

The issues raised by this group of attorneys general include a loophole they say could leave some cities with lead water lines for decades. They point to a provision that allows flexibility for systems with large numbers of lead pipes, requiring them to only replace 10,000 lead service lines per year.

The states calling for a stronger mandate include New York, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.

In formal comments submitted recently on the proposed Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) rule, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) reaffirmed its support for the removal of lead service lines nationwide, while recommending critical revisions to make the rule feasible to implement and affordable for communities.

“Over the last several decades, the drinking water community has made tremendous strides in reducing lead levels in drinking water,” AWWA wrote in comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which announced its LCRI proposal on Nov. 30, 2023. “More can and should be done. The next steps in drinking water policy to further lead risk reduction must be credible, legally sound, truly feasible, and appropriate to the challenge at hand.”

AWWA wrote that EPA’s estimated cost of the rule—between $3 and 4.9 billion annually—is higher than any previous regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and the costs of compliance will be directly passed to water utility customers. According to AWWA estimates, the total cost of removing all lead service lines in the United States could top $90 billion. Noting that many community water systems are small and have limited resources, AWWA stressed that many communities will face financial, logistical, and personnel challenges and may be unable to meet EPA’s timeline.

AWWA supports EPA’s intention to continue with a “treatment technique” to control lead and copper, through which water systems actively manage the corrosivity of the water to minimize the possibility of lead getting into drinking water, rather than attempting to establish a maximum contaminant level at faucets within homes.

Among the chief concerns AWWA expressed was that the rule equates community water systems having “access” to private property with a system having “control” over the service line on private property. Because ownership of lead service lines is often split between a water system and private property owners, accessing pipes on private property is often a barrier to complete service line removal. AWWA stressed that control “is based on ownership. The definition of what is ‘under the control’ of water systems as described in SDWA does not include piping not owned by the water system, even when the actual owner uses their ‘control’ to grant ‘access’ to a water system.”

The proposed LCRI lowers the lead action level—a measure of the effectiveness of the corrosion control treatment in water systems—to 10 parts per billion (ppb) from 15 ppb, introduces a new sampling protocol, and changes how sample sites are prioritized. These changes will make the action level much harder to consistently achieve. AWWA’s comments stress that EPA has not demonstrated that water systems targeted by the rule will be able to consistently comply with the lower action level.

The public comment period on the LCRI proposal concluded Feb. 5.

“AWWA is a proponent of strong protections for water consumers today, while we work for a future when lead is no longer in contact with drinking water,” AWWA wrote. “AWWA hopes that these comments will assist EPA as it formulates a final LCRI that achieves additional risk reduction, while recognizing the additional resource-intensive challenges facing water systems, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), cybersecurity, climate change, and aging infrastructure.”

Implementation of the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) over the past 25 years has resulted in major improvements in public health; the number of the nation’s largest drinking water systems with a 90th percentile sample value exceeding the LCR action level of 15 ppb has decreased by over 90 percent since the initial implementation of the LCR. An EPA white paper in 2016 on the LCR revisions states that median blood levels for young children have decreased ten-fold since the mid-1970s.

On January 31, at a hearing in Washington, D.C.,  before the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) testified about a collaborative approach to cybersecurity oversight in the water sector.

The hearing was titled “Ensuring the Cybersecurity of America’s Drinking Water Systems” and included experts from water organizations across the United States. Kevin Morley, AWWA federal relations manager, testified on behalf of the association, which represents 50,000 water professionals throughout North America and beyond.

“Strong cybersecurity measures are essential to ensuring a cyber incident does not threaten public health. Water systems need resources and regulatory oversight designed to mitigate the potential risks from cyberattacks around the clock, every day of the year. This means we need to act now,” Morley said.

Morley testified that a combination of regulatory and nonregulatory actions is necessary to tackle the cyber threats facing water systems. AWWA has recommended congressional action to support a new cybersecurity governance framework in the water sector that leverages the technical knowledge of utilities, cybersecurity experts, and regulators to implement a comprehensive cybersecurity risk management strategy. This model, authorized by federal legislation, would create an independent, nonfederal entity to lead the development of cybersecurity requirements using, in part, subject matter experts from the water sector. Federal oversight and approval of requirements would be provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which already regulates drinking water and wastewater utility operations.

This collaborative approach builds on a similar model that has already been successfully applied in the electric sector. The recommendation also aligns with calls for greater public-private collaboration included in the National Cyber Strategy.

“The diverse nature of water utilities requires a tiered framework that recognizes the technical challenges facing the sector and sets reasonable cybersecurity requirements that focus on practical, protective, and implementable solutions,” Morley said.

In addition to establishing a sound oversight model, Morley shared three essential areas of collaboration that could enhance cybersecurity in the water sector. These areas include:

• Overcoming the digital divide
• Threat information sharing
• Vulnerability mitigation and technical assistance