Sponsor
Gary C. Peters
Senator · D-MI
Senator · D-MI
The bill provides targeted water-safety relief for households affected by DoD-related PFOS/PFOA contamination—offering alternative water and municipal connections and aligning cleanup actions with CERCLA—at the cost of added public expense and with the risk that some residents will face uneven access or be excluded under eligibility rules.
Households downgradient from DoD installations with private wells contaminated by PFOS/PFOA will be offered alternative drinking water (bottled water, point-of-use filtration, or connection to a public supply), reducing immediate exposure for residents including children.
Contaminated private-well households will be connected to municipal water systems where feasible, improving long-term water safety and infrastructure reliability for affected communities.
DoD responses will be aligned with CERCLA and applicable state standards, promoting consistency with federal cleanup frameworks and potentially accelerating remediation and coordination with state/local authorities.
Taxpayers or the DoD budget may face increased costs to provide alternative water or extend municipal connections, which could divert funds from other priorities.
Some households may be denied DoD-provided alternative water (for example, if the community already has municipal water or if DoD CERCLA actions meet standards), leaving certain residents to rely on local remedies or slower fixes.
Implementation could vary by installation and state standards, producing inconsistent access and potential delays for some private-well households, particularly in rural areas.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires DoD to offer alternative drinking water to private wells downgradient from military installations that exceeded EPA PFOS/PFOA MCLs due solely to DoD activities if a community household was already eligible.
Official title: Require the provision of alternative drinking water to households whose private drinking water is contaminated with perfluorooctanesulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid substances from activities of the Department of Defense.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Gary C. Peters · Last progress December 11, 2025
Requires the Department of Defense to offer alternative drinking water to private households downgradient from a military installation when their private well(s) have ever exceeded the EPA MCL for PFOS or PFOA due solely to DoD activity, if at least one household in the same community already qualified for DoD-provided alternative water from that installation. "Alternative drinking water" can include bottled water, connection to a public system, or a residential filtration system. The requirement starts on enactment and is coordinated and prioritized consistent with CERCLA and related environmental authorities. The Secretary of Defense is not required to provide alternative water where all affected households are already connected to a municipal distribution system or where DoD CERCLA actions have achieved federal or state drinking water standards for PFOS/PFOA. The law references existing Safe Drinking Water Act and CERCLA definitions for terms like maximum contaminant level and public water system.