AN ACT PROMOTING DRINKING WATER QUALITY FOR ALL
Senate Bill sponsored by Senator Eldridge. House Bill sponsored by Representative Sena and Representative Pignatelli.
ABOUT THE LEGISLATION
An Act Promoting Drinking Water Quality for All (bill numbers S.482 and H.902) aims to provide protections for households who rely on private wells for their drinking water. This bill would enable the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to develop a set of health-based regulations which would provide statewide water quality standards for private drinking water wells.
The regulations themselves would be developed by drinking water experts at MassDEP, likely in consultation with a technical advisory group and with a process for public input. To maximize public benefit, the bill would require MassDEP to evaluate practices to minimize the paperwork burden for private well owners.
In addition, the bill would expand the existing MassHousing Septic Repair Loan Program (SRLP) to provide low-income homeowners with access to financial assistance to remediate contaminated private wells.
WHAT THIS LEGISLATION WILL AND WILL NOT DO
THIS ACT WILL:
- Authorize MassDEP to develop health-based regulations to ensure private well water is safe to consume.
- Be the first step in achieving uniform statewide private well regulations to protect public health.
- Likely be modeled after Title 5 legislation (regulations for septic systems), which is widely accepted as an important protection for environmental and public health.
- Expand the existing MassHousing Septic Repair Loan Program (SRLP) to provide low-income homeowners with access to financial assistance to remediate contaminated private wells.
THIS ACT WILL NOT:
- Impose an undue burden on homeowners. There will be efforts to proactively educate homeowners, address lab testing capacity, and develop strategies to mitigate paperwork for homeowners and health agents.
- Specify what the exact regulations will be.
- Contain details about contaminants, testing requirements, and reporting. The actual regulations would be developed by MassDEP, likely with input from water experts, stakeholders, and the public.