EPA Nominee Regan Touts Collaboration during Senate Confirmation Hearing

The Senate confirmation hearing for Michael Regan, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, proceeded on February 3 with many lines of questioning but few serious objections to his qualifications for the job.

Regan has been the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality since 2017. Though he has a long history of working on water issues in that state, discussion of those topics took a backseat during the three-hour hearing. What came to the forefront was how Regan would approach being the country’s top environmental regulator.

U.S. Civil Rights Commission Advisers File Report on Water Inequity in Massachusetts

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was established by Congress in 1957 to investigate claims of discrimination, assess the equity of laws, and submit recommendations to policymakers. Advisory committees in each state and the District of Columbia act as the commission’s sentries, highlighting emerging issues and issuing reports on important and timely matters.

The Massachusetts Advisory Committee is the first state committee to issue a report on water access and affordability. 

HotSpots H2O: In Ethiopian Conflict, Water Insecurity and Disease Risk Escalate

Destruction to infrastructure in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia has left people without access to clean water and increased the risk of fatal diseases. 

After months of conflict between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the Ethiopian federal government, an estimated 2.3 million people in the Tigray region — almost half of the population — need food, water, and healthcare facilities, according to the United Nations. Since the conflict began in November, humanitarian aid groups have been prevented from distributing resources and supplies to the region largely due to bureaucratic delays, insecurity, and the lack of safe passage. Some areas, mostly cities, have received some assistance, but rural populations are harder to reach. This, along with complications with the harvest, has left communities vulnerable to hunger. 

What’s Up With Water – February 1, 2021

Featured coverage from this week’s episode of What’s Up With Water looks at:

• In the United States, the Army Corps of Engineers has signed a contract with the state of Georgia, resolving a water supply issue that has long been simmering.

• The New York Times reports that the Biden administration is proposing as much as $10 billion to avoid climate disasters.

• In the city of Chicago, a council member introduced a bill to address water affordability and residential water debt.

This week Circle of Blue reports on the risks of aging water infrastructure.

Amid Rising Water Rates, Massachusetts Cities Have Inequitable Affordability Policies, Report Finds

Some Massachusetts cities shut off water to enforce timely bill payment. Others place liens on the property that result in extra fees and can lead to foreclosure. Nearly all have water-bill assistance programs that target homeowners, the elderly, or disabled, but not specifically those who are low-income.

Those details come from a 2019 Northeastern University study that investigates water affordability policies in a dozen Massachusetts cities. The cities, which include the 10 largest in the state, range in population from 670,000 people (Boston) to 40,000 (Chelsea).

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