Rep. Bryan Shupe, DHSS team up to tackle water quality concerns

DELAWARE – Although House Bill 69 died in previous Delaware General Assembly sessions, the dream behind it isn’t dead, says Representative Bryan Shupe.

Bill Dead, Dream Alive

The bill would have established a Residential Drinking Water Purification System Grant program.

“It aimed at helping lower income individuals in our communities all throughout the state of Delaware who had contaminated water, have the ability to have access to state grants to place water filtration systems on their homes,” said Rep. Shupe. “We’re talking about individuals who are barely making ends meet, and helping them with the filtration system so they don’t have to decide between medicine, and taking their kid to the doctor, and clean water.”

Rep. Shupe says the bill enjoyed bipartisan support in both the Senate and House. The legislation passed the House Health and Human Services Committee, and was on its way to a floor vote. However, Rep. Shupe believes politics got in the way of the bill’s progress. That was when Rep. Shupe says he was encouraged by colleagues to find another way to bring the program to life.

Teaming Up

Now, Rep. Shupe and the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) are teaming up to get the program up and running, without legislation. Adding, it’s already paid for, because the fund is built up by municipalities’ interest on bond bills for water or sewer infrastructure.

“The money is already there. The fund is ongoing through municipal bonds to the state of Delaware,” said Rep. Shupe.

In addition to starting the program, Rep. Shupe says he worked with DHSS to post its empty Environmental Specialist III position on state job boards.

“This environmental specialist that will be hired for this position will help facilitate when people who are in need that have contaminated water,” said Rep. Shupe. “They will take their information, and will make sure that they fit the two criteria. The two criteria are that they fit the income needs for the program, and also that someone goes out there, tests their well water and makes sure that their water is contaminated above the EPA levels.”

Looking Ahead

Rep. Shupe hopes the program will be up and running by the end of April 2023. Beyond that, he says there’s much more work to be done in order to guarantee access to clean drinking water for each Delawarean. Adding, the previously passed House Bill 200 could serve as a compliment to the program.

“So, you have the long term infrastructure plan, and my plan as a short term stop gap for families while we get that infrastructure in place. But, there’s also many other ways that we need to address clean water in Delaware. And, one of them is just pollution,” said Rep. Shupe. “There’s so many things that we need to be doing in order to make sure that we have clean water here. It’s at the point where it’s almost irreversible.”

Updates on the program will be posted on the DHSS website, says Rep. Shupe.