Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The next era of drinking-water protection may depend on deciding which risks deserve attention first.
Chad Seidel of Corona Environmental Consulting and the Water & Health Advisory Council says the Safe Drinking Water Act was built around identifying contaminants, setting standards, and enforcing them—a framework that produced major public-health gains over the past 50 years.
The Madison Declaration argues that this success has also created a “regulatory treadmill,” in which new contaminants can command increasing resources even as known hazards and basic system failures remain unresolved.
Its call to prioritize risk is not a case for abandoning contaminant regulation. It asks policymakers to weigh new contaminant rules against the most serious existing and emerging threats, using the best available science and seeking the greatest benefit from limited public resources.
Those threats include failing pipes, unsafe plumbing inside buildings, inadequate source-water protection, workforce shortages, cybersecurity incidents, and communities that still lack reliable access to safe water.
As Seidel puts it, removing contaminants is of little value if a utility lacks the operators, infrastructure, or functioning computer systems needed to deliver water safely each day.
The challenge for the Safe Drinking Water Act’s next 50 years is to protect against chemical and microbial contamination while also safeguarding the people and systems that keep drinking water available, affordable, and reliable.
Learn more about the Madison Declaration and the Next 50 Years of the Safe Drinking Water Act: mannyteodoro.com/madison-declaration
waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability. Visit waterloop.org
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#SafeDrinkingWaterAct #DrinkingWater #WaterPolicy #PublicHealth #WaterInfrastructure #Cybersecurity #WaterUtilities #waterloop
The next era of drinking-water protection may depend on deciding which risks deserve attention first.
Chad Seidel of Corona Environmental Consulting and the Water & Health Advisory Council says the Safe Drinking Water Act was built around identifying contaminants, setting standards, and enforcing them—a framework that produced major public-health gains over the past 50 years.
The Madison Declaration argues that this success has also created a “regulatory treadmill,” in which new contaminants can command increasing resources even as known hazards and basic system failures remain unresolved.
Its call to prioritize risk is not a case for abandoning contaminant regulation. It asks policymakers to weigh new contaminant rules against the most serious existing and emerging threats, using the best available science and seeking the greatest benefit from limited public resources.
Those threats include failing pipes, unsafe plumbing inside buildings, inadequate source-water protection, workforce shortages, cybersecurity incidents, and communities that still lack reliable access to safe water.
As Seidel puts it, removing contaminants is of little value if a utility lacks the operators, infrastructure, or functioning computer systems needed to deliver water safely each day.
The challenge for the Safe Drinking Water Act’s next 50 years is to protect against chemical and microbial contamination while also safeguarding the people and systems that keep drinking water available, affordable, and reliable.
Learn more about the Madison Declaration and the Next 50 Years of the Safe Drinking Water Act: mannyteodoro.com/madison-declaration
waterloop is a nonprofit news outlet exploring solutions for water sustainability. Visit waterloop.org
Subscribe to catch every video: youtube.com/@waterloop
Never miss an episode! Subscribe to waterloop:
🎧 Spotify:bit.ly/waterloopSpotify
🎧 Apple Podcasts:bit.ly/waterloopApple
🎧 YouTube Podcasts:bit.ly/waterloopYouTubePod
Follow waterloop for more stories on water sustainability:
🔹 Instagram:instagram.com/the_waterloop
🔹 LinkedIn:linkedin.com/company/thewaterloop
#SafeDrinkingWaterAct #DrinkingWater #WaterPolicy #PublicHealth #WaterInfrastructure #Cybersecurity #WaterUtilities #waterloop
