{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=b1d63105-0dcd-4e75-b81e-28c11dab9a6e", "Portman and Brown Bill to Help Ensure Safe Drinking Water Passes the Senate", "2014-12-11", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Rob Portman", "P000449", "www.portman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Legislation authored by U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to promote the safety of drinking water unanimously passed the Senate today. The bill \u2013 in response to a high level of microcystin in the Western Lake Erie basin which disrupted the water supply of approximately 500,000 people in Northwest Ohio in early August \u2013 must also pass the U.S. House of Representatives before being sent to the President.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s critical that all levels of government work together to determine if our drinking water is safe for human consumption,\u201d Portman stated. \u201cAs we continue to work to ensure that Ohioans have access to safe and clean drinking water, the passage of this legislation is an important step toward knowing what is safe and what is not.\u201d\r\n\u201cThis is a commonsense, bipartisan bill that will ensure Ohioans are confident in the safety of their drinking water,\u201d Brown said. \u201cOur bill will address a void in our current monitoring efforts to protect our water and address potential public health threats.\u201d\r\nThe Safe and Secure Drinking Water Act would direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish a health advisory and submit reports on the level of microcystins in drinking water that is determined to be safe for human consumption.\r\nMicrocystin is a byproduct of harmful algal blooms in surface water. Despite requests that state and federal regulators develop standards for microcystins in drinking water, cities and water plant operators currently rely on the World Health Organization\u2019s suggestion of 1 part per billion or less. The EPA has been working on developing a health advisory, but has yet to issue one. This legislation would require EPA to publish a health advisory within 180 days for microcystin levels to be used by drinking water treatment plants and to standardize testing procedures for this toxin. \u00a0\r\n\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=b1d63105-0dcd-4e75-b81e-28c11dab9a6e"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7827640511095524, "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"}