{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mccollum.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-mccollum-senator-tina-smith-secure-funding-local-water", "Congresswoman McCollum, Senator Tina Smith Secure Funding for Local Water Infrastructure", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "MN", "Betty McCollum", "M001143", "mccollum.house.gov", "mccollum", "https://mccollum.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "On Thursday, the EPA awarded $1,092,000 to the City of Gem Lake. Congresswoman McCollum and Senator Tina Smith secured the funding for the Municipal Water Supply Community Project through the FY 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act. Following the grant award, Congresswoman McCollum released the following statement:\n\n\u201cIn the East Metro, we understand just how vital safe drinking water is to the health of our community,\u201d Congresswoman McCollum said. \u201cThis federal investment will help protect the health of Gem Lake residents by providing them with safe drinking water.\u201d\n\n\u201cClean drinking water should be a basic standard in this country,\u201d said Senator Tina Smith. \u201cGem Lake citizens have been rightfully concerned about carcinogens in their water supply, and this new system will give residents some peace of mind. I\u2019m glad Rep. McCollum and I were able to secure this funding.\u201d\n\n\u201cBetty McCollum\u2019s office was instrumental in helping us in all phases of grant application and processing. We are very grateful for the help and on-going professionalism\u201d Gem Lake Mayor\n\nThis funding would be used for the construction phase of a new water supply system to provide safe drinking water to residents. In FY 2024, Congresswoman McCollum secured $959,757 which was used to fund the design of the new water supply system.\n\nSampling performed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) detected 1,4-dioxane, a likely human carcinogen, in several private wells in Gem Lake. While the cause of the contamination has not been narrowed to one source, the residents of Gem Lake are not responsible for it, nor did they contribute to the issue. The MPCA has been providing residents with bottled water, a short-term solution.", 1, "2026-09-25T10:04:52Z", "2026-09-25T10:05:46Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mccollum.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-mccollum-senator-tina-smith-secure-funding-local-water"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5308423899114132, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}