Drinking water utilities are outlining their priorities for EPA Administrator Michael Regan, including calling for the agency to use multiple environmental laws to better protect drinking water, use negotiated rulemaking to develop high-profile drinking water standards, address funding concerns and advance cybersecurity protections. The American Water Works Association (AWWA), which represents a variety of drinking water utilities, wrote to Regan March 11, the same day he was sworn in as administrator, offering perspectives on how EPA "can take proactive steps towards making effective progress" on seven priority topics and saying the group "seeks to be an involved stakeholder working with the Agency on each of these topics and a participant in the recommended stakeholder process." The letter, signed by AWWA Executive Director for Government Affairs Tracy Mehan, was sent to Regan as an attachment to an introductory email in which Mehan said, "This is a challenging time, and maintaining public health and safety, relative to the water the public consumes, goes beyond the Safe Drinking Water Act [SDWA] to embrace everything from the Farm Bill to" the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Clean Water Act (CWA) "and beyond."
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