A Beautiful Resolution
Hello SHEN family and welcome to Clean Water Wednesday Action Alert!
As you all know, Delaware faces an annual deficit of $100 million in order to address water issues. Governor Carney just announced a plan to commit $50 million to fund clean water projects. Carney is backing legislation filed by House Majority Leader, Val Longhurst, that would create the Clean Water Trust. SHEN was part of the Clean Water Coalition and SHEN members testified about the need for Sussex County to be specifically included in the legislation and the need for private well replacement in low-income communities that don’t have access to public water. SHEN has recently learned about a resolution that was sent to Governor Carney and Representative Longhurst as an amendment to the bill. This resolution is in line with everything SHEN asked for in H.B. 200 last year. H.B. 200, as it was written, did not provide funding or support for individuals who can’t afford or don’t have access to a public water supply and must rely on wells. Most of the nitrate contamination in Delaware wells is in Sussex county. This amendment would provide 15% of the funds to be used as one time grants to individual households for installation of water purification systems or deeper wells in the affected areas.
We learned on Saturday that this resolution was submitted by the Delaware Democratic Committee. The text from the resolution reads:
Whereas
Governor Carney has announced $50 million for clean water as part of his budget package, and Sussex County Democratic Committee commends the Governor for his leadership on this issue, and
Whereas
Supporting legislation has been introduced by the Majority Leader, Representative Valerie Longhurst, to provide for the mechanism to distribute these funds, and the Sussex County Democratic Committee commends the efforts of Representative Longhurst and other sponsors of HB 200, and
Whereas
House Bill 200 does not provide any funding for the support for individual households who either can’t afford or do not have access to public or commercial water supply, and therefore must rely on wells for drinking water, and
Whereas
Most of the nitrate contamination in Delaware’s wells is in Sussex County, and remediation is urgently needed to provide safe drinking water to protect the health and well-being of families living in the affected area.
Whereas
Clean drinking water is essential for human survival and is a basic human right, and
Therefore, be it resolved that
The Sussex County Democratic Committee urges the Governor and the bill sponsors to work together to amend HB 200 to provide for 15% of the funds to be used as one time grants to individual households for installation of water purification systems or deeper wells in the affected areas.
***ACTION ALERT*** This is so important and will take just two minutes of your time.
Please call or email Governor Carney and Representative Valerie Longhurst and ask them to support this resolution to amend H.B. 200 with the new bill. Below, I’ve put links to contact Governor Carney and Representative Longhurst: