May XX, 2025
The Honorable Susan Collins
413 Dirksen Senate Office
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Lisa McClain
562 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Jeff Merkley
531 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Kevin Mullin
1404 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Re: H.R. 2269 WIPPES Act– SUPPORT
Dear Senator Collins, Senator Merkley, Representative McClain, and Representative Mullin:
On behalf of the City of Santa Rosa, I am writing to express our strong support for the bipartisan Wastewater Infrastructure Pollution Prevention and Environmental Safety (WIPPES) Act (H.R.2269). H.R. 2269 takes a straightforward and reasonable approach to addressing the preventable problems stemming from the improper disposal of non-flushable wipes in the nation’s wastewater systems.
The City of Santa Rosa Water Department (Santa Rosa Water) delivers approximately six billion gallons of drinking water, each year, to over 55,000 customer accounts, and maintains the sanitary sewer system for over 49,000 customer accounts in Santa Rosa, serving a population of approximately 178,000 residents. Additionally, Santa Rosa Water operates the Santa Rosa Regional Water Reuse System, which serves approximately 230,000 residents in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol, and unincorporated portions of Sonoma County. The hub of the Water Reuse System is the Laguna Treatment Plant, which cleans and recycles approximately 7 billion gallons of wastewater each year from homes, businesses, and industry in the region. As a public water and wastewater system, Santa Rosa Water is responsible for maintaining our infrastructure and protecting our local waterways and environment.
Due to the lack of consistent and clear disposal packaging instructions, consumers often unwittingly flush these wipes down the toilet. At a national-level, wet wipes are responsible for $441 million a year in additional operating costs at US clean water utilities. Since these types of wipes are not designed to be flushed, they can clog and damage pipes, pumps, and treatment equipment, resulting in increased operation and maintenance costs for clean water utilities. The flushing of these wipes can also cause potential environmental harms, such as sewer overflow events.
The WIPPES Act’s common sense “Do Not Flush” labeling requirement for non-flushable wipes packaging establishes a simple source management solution through consistent on-package consumer education that will assist in protecting our local infrastructure and environment.
For the reasons above, the City of Santa Rosa strongly supports H.R. 2269. As a member of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA), Santa Rosa fully supports the comments they have provided.
Thank you for your continued leadership in developing commonsense and bipartisan policy solutions. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sean McNeil, Deputy Director of Environmental Services at 707-543-3938 or via email at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Mark Stapp
Mayor
Office of the Mayor
City of Santa Rosa
100 Santa Rosa Avenue, room 10
Santa Rosa, CA 95404