A bill to improve our public drinking water systems was recently signed into law by Governor Murphy.
Designed to address the shortcomings of the 2017 Water Quality Accountability Act (WQAA), this legislation will require a comprehensive inventory, mapping, and condition assessment of a public water system’s assets, a prioritization of work as part of an asset management plan, and a long-term funding strategy to implement it.
This new level of planning and accountability will ensure that drinking water purveyors stay on top of maintenance and be held to higher compliance standards or face significant penalties. In turn, these new mandates will create more projects for our industry, as more and more pipes will need repair or replacement.
In late 2019, NUCA New Jersey’s Executive Director Evan Piscitelli was invited to speak on the subject as part of a State Senate hearing to improve the WQAA. Since then, our association, along with other groups like UTCA and the NJUA, have assisted legislators with these reforms.