Congressional Updates

Wastewater Action Alliance thanks Senators Tim Scott (R-SC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ted Budd (R-NC), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Angus King (I-ME) for their bipartisan leadership to protect and strengthen America's wastewater monitoring network — a proven early warning system and communities' first line of defense against infectious disease outbreaks. The senators introduced the PREDICT Act (S. 4048), which would authorize the CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) through FY 2030 and would: award grants to state, tribal, and local health departments and public-private partnerships to establish or expand surveillance programs; strengthen laboratory capacity to detect new pathogens and track multiple diseases simultaneously; ensure broad geographic representation; support new technologies and adaptable surveillance systems; ensure data access through a publicly accessible dashboard for public health officials; and require CDC to develop a national strategic plan for strengthening wastewater monitoring and maintaining an early-warning system capable of detecting emerging health threats. Wastewater Action Alliance will continue to work to advance this critical legislation, as well as to secure vital appropriations funding to keep the NWSS program running, since existing funds expired at the end of September.

Wastewater Action Alliance celebrates the passage of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and its groundbreaking wastewater surveillance provision. The legislation establishes a two-year pilot program requiring wastewater surveillance for infectious diseases at a minimum of four military installations, with mandatory reporting on findings, recommended interventions, and the program's effectiveness in strengthening military health protection and readiness. This pilot program puts wastewater surveillance into practice at military installations, generating insights that will define the future of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) biosurveillance capabilities.

Wastewater Action Alliance is encouraged by the Senate Appropriations Committee’s support for wastewater surveillance as a tool to enhance early detection and biosecurity. The committee’s Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations affirms the importance of “a wastewater surveillance system that can serve as a national early-warning system for infectious disease with broad geographic representation that strategically incorporates sites across the country to strengthen early detection and biosecurity and shares results publicly to help inform communities and protect Americans.” The report directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide details regarding the status of wastewater surveillance and recommendations regarding the funding required annually to create a national wastewater surveillance system for infectious diseases.