In February of this year, Vice President Kamala Harris stood before a crowd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to announce a $5.8 billion investment in water infrastructure. The money is part of the more than $50 billion designated for water infrastructure in 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“Every person should have a right and the ability to have access to clean water,” she said at the event, “And it should not matter where you live or how much money you earn or how much money you got in your back pocket.” 

We couldn’t agree more. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was an important downpayment on this vision, but its $50 billion for water pales in comparison to the more than $1.3 trillion that the EPA says is necessary for water and sewer systems.

Water systems in the United States are facing multiple intertwined crises. Our right to clean, affordable, and public water is under threat from climate change, aging infrastructure, and toxic pollution. Under the Biden-Harris administration, we’ve started to see hopeful progress on these issues. And while we know we have a long way to go, the administration’s policies will have concrete benefits for millions of people nationwide.

With Harris in office, we can expect these efforts to continue and we can push her to do even more. In contrast, her opponent will usher in an era of deregulation and disinvestment that could set us back decades.

Pouring Funding Into Clean Water for All

Across the country, water and sewer systems are in dire need of funding for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. Each year, hundreds of billions of gallons of raw sewage spill and leak from aging systems. Water main breaks waste more than 6 billion gallons of drinking water every day.

Left unaddressed, aging infrastructure will lead to more public health threats and higher costs. In fact, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund found that aging infrastructure is the biggest contributor to a water affordability crisis that disproportionately affects Black communities. 

Without federal support, state and local governments will have to face these problems on their own. Communities lacking resources, including majority-Black, Brown, and low-income communities, will get left behind. 

Harris knows how serious these issues are. In 2019, she introduced the Water Justice Act, which proposed $250 billion in water infrastructure investments. That included $50 billion for testing for toxic contamination and replacing lead pipes.

She also helped pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In addition to investing in clean water for all, it’s supporting good union jobs and protecting families from toxic lead pipes and PFAS “forever chemicals.”

A second Trump administration could threaten this progress. As The American Prospect reported, “Trump and his advisers want to bring back impoundment.” This would allow them to block spending already passed by Congress. Trump is also promoting a privatization scam for infrastructure investment — a sovereign wealth fund controlled by Wall Street. 

At the same time, we know that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is not enough. We need Harris in office because she will ensure this work continues, and we can push her to shepherd Congress to make the necessary investments in safe and clean water. 

Getting Toxics Like Lead and PFAS Out of Our Water

Millions of people in the U.S. can’t drink the water that comes out of their faucets because of toxic contaminants. This problem is especially acute for communities of color, which see their drinking water problems ignored for years. But in recent years, Harris has helped institute regulations addressing these issues. 

The Biden-Harris administration etsablished legally enforceable limits for six PFAS “forever chemicals” after decades of community organizing. It also finalized new rules to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up two of the oldest and most common PFAS: PFOA and PFOS. 

However, industry groups are suing to overturn these important PFAS regulations, and Protect 2025 singled out PFAS polluter-pay rules for review — and likely repeal. We need Harris in office to ensure that the federal government defends our right to safe, PFAS-free water. 

Along with PFAS regulations, Harris is also working to protect our water from lead contamination. The Biden-Harris administration is currently finalizing improvements to the Lead and Copper Rule that will require water systems to replace lead service lines in 10 years. But under Trump, this new rule could be repealed. 

According to Politico, Harris played a key role in securing $15 billion to replace lead service lines in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Sources also told the outlet that she pushed for the Lead and Copper Rule improvements after they faced pushback elsewhere in the administration.

Though these are welcome first steps, they are only first steps. We know that replacing lead lines nationwide could require at least $60 billion. We also need to ensure they’re replaced with copper pipes and not toxic plastic PVC or CPVC pipes. And we need to regulate PFAS as a class of chemicals and force polluters to clean up all of them.

Nevertheless, a Harris presidency provides the best pathway for continuing to clean up our water. The deregulatory agenda of Trump and the Republican Party is a major threat to this essential resource.

Harris Represents the Best Starting Line for Progress on Clean Water

For Vice President Harris, justice is a key part of her approach to water. She has long advocated for policies that ensure everyone has access to clean water. She introduced legislation during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect families from water shut-offs. Her Water Justice Act included $10 billion to help low-income environmental justice communities pay their water bills. 

Upon introducing that bill in the Senate, Harris said: “Achieving true justice in our nation will require us to recognize the precious nature of water and take bold action to invest in long-term, sustainable solutions to guarantee it for everybody.”

This is the kind of thinking we need to address our country’s water crises. The problems of lead contamination, PFAS, crumbling infrastructure, and more are solvable — but only with major federal investments and protective policies.

With Harris as president, we have the greatest opportunity to work toward a future where the right to clean water is ensured for everyone in the United States, and no community gets left behind.

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