PORTSMOUTH, RI — Two East Bay lawmakers said they will once again introduce their bill calling for clean water standards during the upcoming legislative session. Representative June Speakman and Terri Cortvriend are pushing for the state to take action against toxins in drinking water.

The Safe Drinking Water Act was first introduced during last year's session. This year's version will be in partnership with the Conservation Law Foundation, Future Now and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The same bill will also be introduced in other state legislatures around the country. The main purpose of the bill is to create state-level standards to limit the level of known toxins in drinking water. The Environmental Protection Agency has not put federal standards in place to regulate manmade contaminants, including PFOA, PFOS and related compounds linked to cancer, Chromium-6 (the Erin Brockovich chemical) and 1,4 dioxane in drinking water, the lawmakers said in a release, despite calls for action from public health groups and environmental activists.

Said Representative Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown), "Rhode Island doesn't have to sit idle while the federal government looks the other way from the pollution that is harming public health," Cortvriend said. "In fact, it's our duty to take the action necessary to protect our drinking water. Safe drinking water is a necessity and a human right, and Rhode Islanders deserve to have that right protected. We look forward to addressing this issue in the 2020 legislative session."

While the details of the bill are still under construction, the final legislation is expected to direct the state to consider limits on pollutants in water, provide scientific evidence about the safe limit of certain contaminants and tailor proposed limits to protect vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant and nursing mothers and babies.

"There are a lot of things we don't know about many of the chemicals that wind up in drinking water from manufacturing and other industries, but we do know that many are dangerous to public health and cause a variety of health problems," Speakman said. "While we gather more information, I firmly believe we should be erring on the side of protecting the public rather than on the side of polluters. It is absolutely critical that public drinking water supplies are safe. From Flint, Michigan, to our own Burrillville, we have seen instances of public drinking water made unsafe by contaminants, and government not always being swift to step in. Instead, we should be proactive and give priority to public health." Several other states including California, New Jersey and Vermont have taken state-level action to address pollutants in drinking water.

At the federal level, the EPA has recommended that drinking water contain no more than 70 parts per trillion of PFOA and PFOS, two PFAs, or polyfluoroalkyl substances. These chemicals are linked to several health issues including cancer and are often used in nonstick coatings, firefighting foam and more.

The previous version of the bill required that the Department of Health set limits on PFAs in drinking water supplies, with the interim standard of 20 ppt, based on Vermont's recently implemented limits.