One of the most significant environmental laws of the 20th century is the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which passed 50 years ago today. This law, for the first time, established a national framework that seeks to ensure the safety of our public drinking water. It vested in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to regulate the drinking water quality of public water systems across the country. 

Since that day in 1974 when President Gerald Ford signed the bill, we have seen great improvements in drinking water across the country. Still, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of this landmark law, it’s important to recognize its significant limitations.

Moreover, with Trump and a rightwing Congress pushing for deregulation, it’s critical that we fight not just to keep existing regulations for our drinking water, but also to strengthen them and fully realize this law’s potential. 

As the new administration comes into power, here are the top five threats that Food & Water Watch is fighting to protect our drinking water: 

1. Factory Farm Waste Polluting Ground and Surface Water

Factory farms are contaminating rural communities’ drinking water wherever this industry is located, spurring calls for action from Oregon and Washington to Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. The EPA must act. 

Factory farms produce massive amounts of manure and other waste that routinely pollute ground and surface waters in nearby communities. This untreated sewage can contain pathogens, pharmaceuticals, and even heavy metals. Factory farm pollution is also linked to high levels of nitrates in drinking water, which can lead to, among other things, dangerous “blue baby” syndrome.

Communities in these five states have called on the EPA to take emergency action in response to this dangerous contamination. The SDWA empowers the EPA to step in when states fail to protect public health. However, so far it has not gone nearly far enough to address existing factory farm pollution or stop new contamination. 

2. Microplastics Contaminating Drinking  Water

The EPA must monitor for microplastics in our drinking water to jumpstart the process of regulating these toxic compounds. Every day, more research comes out linking plastics to human health risks, and drinking water is one main way that people are exposed. 

Microplastics are linked to cancers, liver damage, reproductive harm, and more. In 2025, the EPA will propose the list of contaminants to be tested during the upcoming round of monitoring under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule of the Safe Drinking Water Act. We are demanding that it includes microplastics. 

3. The Fracking Industry and its Secret  Pollutants  

Congress needs to close the Halliburton Loophole to help protect drinking water sources from fracking. The 2005 Energy Policy Act created this broad exemption for fracking from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Halliburton Loophole prevents the EPA from regulating fracking chemicals injected underground. It even allows companies to hide the chemical contents of the fluids they use to drill. 

But given what knowledge we do have of fracking chemicals, it’s clear they pose serious health threats. They include, for example, carcinogens like benzene and may also include endocrine disruptors, which can cause reproductive health issues.

The Safe Drinking Water Act gave the EPA powers to regulate underground injections to prevent the contamination of drinking water sources. Yet, this loophole has prevented the federal oversight of fracking that we need to protect water quality and public health. 

4. Trump’s Rollbacks on Water Safety Regulations

Under the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress, recent water protections are at risk. Earlier this year, the Biden administration finalized two major drinking water protections: (1) enforceable drinking water limits on six types of PFAS “forever chemicals” and (2) Lead and Copper Rule Improvements to require the replacement of all lead service lines in most communities over the next decade. 

These regulations are important steps to protect us from the pervasive health threats of toxic lead and PFAS. We must defend them against challenges and pushback from polluting industries and their allies in Congress. 

Moreover, the EPA must ensure that polluters are accountable for cleaning up PFAS contamination. Otherwise, households and small businesses would have to take on the burden of removing PFAS from their drinking water through higher water bills.

5. Federal Funding Cuts Endangering Essential Water Infrastructure 

Our public water systems need a strong federal commitment to safe water. Climate change, corporate pollution, and federal underinvestment are fueling a crisis for our nation’s water systems. 

While Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law boosted federal funding for five years, it was not enough to undo decades of federal disinvestment. Communities across the country are suffering the harm of this disinvestment, from toxic PFAS- and lead-contaminated water to unaffordable water bills, from broken water mains that flood homes and streets to pathogens prompting boil orders. Black and Brown communities and rural and low-income areas disproportionately face these harms. 

The price tag for safe water keeps growing. In 2023, the EPA released an updated needs assessment for drinking water systems. It identified $625 billion in needed improvements. Combined with the needed improvements to our wastewater systems, the total cost to provide safe and clean water will exceed $1 trillion over the next two decades. 

Next year, Congress will take up a major tax bill that could extend or deepen tax cuts for corporations and billionaires. At the same time, federal funding for safe water could be on the chopping block during the annual Congressional spending battle.

We need to safeguard our water funding for communities everywhere. Congress must pass the WATER Act to provide a permanent, dedicated source of federal funding for water at the level that is necessary to ensure safe and clean water in every community.