Clean Water Current

With water policy dominating legislative talks in both the House and Senate, as well as in President Biden’s proposed infrastructure legislation, NACWA has been working tirelessly with the various media outlets to accurately frame the discussions around clean water investment. Over the course of the past two months, NACWA has featured extensively in all major D.C. policy news outlets. A non-exhaustive sampling of these media hits are listed below.

On April 29, Bloomberg published a story extensively covering the passage of the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act. NACWA worked with the reporter to ensure that the story accurately depicted the legislation’s impact on the public clean water sector and was featured prominently, with NACWA CEO Adam Krantz saying, “This legislation shows that water infrastructure investment is a bipartisan issue, and it can serve as an important foundation for including water as a major component in a broad infrastructure package.”

On April 29, Congressional Quarterly published an article detailing the passage of the Senate DWWIA legislation, writing, “Adam Krantz, CEO of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, said the bill demonstrated there’s room for bipartisan agreement on infrastructure.”

On April 28, Politico included Water Week in its daily Influence newsletter. The article highlighted the participation of all 17 water sector associations, “The Hill is still awash (virtually) with advocacy groups, the latest of which being the 17 clean water groups, including the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, who urged lawmakers to invest in clean water infrastructure on Tuesday.”

On April 28, Bloomberg published a story covering Water Week and highlighting the joint mission of the 17 water sector associations who participated. “The entire water sector has united this year to urge the Administration and Congress to prioritize water.”

On March 29, E&E News published a story about the introduction of DWWIA and included extensive remarks from NACWA, including the following: "Transportation receives a really great federal partnership, and our point here is that the federal government owes that same duty to the water sector," said David Zielonka, NACWA communications manager.

On March 25, the Engineering News-Record ran a story covering President Biden’s infrastructure plan rollout and featured NACWA’s position prominently, quoting NACWA CEO, Adam Krantz, “For too long, water utilities have been left without a strong federal partner and have had to pay for critical capital investments by raising rates on households already struggling with income security.”

On March 25, E&E News published a story covering the rollout of DWWIA and included remarks from NACWA, “The group called the bill a good first step to ‘help strengthen the federal funding partnership and further ensure that families, hospitals, schools and businesses in communities across the country have the uninterrupted safe, reliable and affordable access to clean water services they need and deserve.’"

On March 23, Bloomberg published a story covering the needs for federal investment in clean water and featured several NACWA members. “The recovery money ‘shows me the moment has arrived for water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure,’ said Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Chief Executive Officer of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, which serves 62 communities including Cleveland. ‘And now we have to continue that conversation.’”

On March 17, the Bond Buyer covered the introduction of the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2021, which featured statements from NACWA Legislative Director, Jason Isakovic, “We hope that these pieces of legislation are included in any comprehensive bill in any form that provides the highest level of funding possible for clean water utilities, especially in the form of direct grants.”

On March 17, Roll Call ran an extensively researched story about water’s role as a consensus-builder in Congress. NACWA Board Member David Denard of Jefferson Country, Alabama was featured, as well as NACWA Communication Manager, David Zielonka.

Members who would like to discuss NACWA’s media presence are encouraged to contact NACWA’s Communications Manager, David Zielonka.