Water is a public trust. So we need a trust fund to keep it clean and safe.

Our water pipes and treatment systems are aging and deteriorating amid more use from a growing population.  This is causing environmental and health problems, including more and more sewage spills into our streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.

For example, 2005 saw more than 20,000 beach closings and swim advisories, most of which were due to sewage overflows and malfunctioning sewage plants. The National Research Council recently warned that we should expect more water-borne disease outbreaks unless our leaders make “substantial investments” to improve America’s water pipes and systems.

But communities around the country are struggling to pay for the infrastructure improvements needed to solve these problems.

According to a recent Luntz poll, nine out of ten Americans believe that clean and safe water is a national priority that deserves federal investment.

The federal government spends more than $30 billion a year on a highway trust fund and more than $8 billion on an air transport trust fund. Yet, we have no trust fund to safeguard our nation's water.

Defined under the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, the federal government has an obligation to help communities pay for public water. In spite of this, the government has cut the main source of funding for clean water year after year. Consequently, we are more than $22 billion per year short of what is necessary to keep water safe for human and environmental health.

If we don’t invest in our nation’s water infrastructure, then we may see our rates increase, water quality suffer, and customer service decline — what many people have experienced when some of the world’s largest corporations took control of community water systems, turning them into private profit machines.

It is time to invest in and protect our water for everyone.  We need a trust fund – a dedicated funding source and sustained commitment to clean and safe public water.

Learn More

• The Case for a Clean Water Water Trust Fund: New Realities, New Solutions

Take Action

• You can make a difference! Tell Congress to Protect America’s Water. Sign the petition to keep water clean and safe.