Sophia Oberton, an operator from the Town of Delmar, located on the Delaware and Maryland border, testified with other water experts before the Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works on Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

Oberton began her testimony thanking Senators Carper and Cardin, stating, “I want to personally thank Senator Carper and Cardin for being such good friends and supporters of rural Delaware, Maryland, and rural USA. The rural and small-town provisions in your recent legislation, The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021, are very much appreciated. And Senator Carper, you made us so proud when you chose to announce the legislation at Delaware Rural Water Association headquarters in Milford in April.”

Oberton provided compelling testimony on the unique characteristics of small and rural public water utilities.

“Small communities only operate to serve the public’s interests. We are owned and governed by our local citizens through the elected local governments. We only exist to serve the public and are eager to take all feasible and necessary actions to protect the cybersecurity of our public drinking water supplies,” testified Oberton.

Oberton went on to discuss the size and limitations most U.S. water systems face, and that protecting the cybersecurity of the drinking water systems in small communities is just as important as protecting them in large communities.

Rural Water is proud of the testimony Sophia Oberton provided to the Committee last week. She represented the interests and needs of Rural America with perfection. NRWA believes that any federal government policy for water cybersecurity must treat small and large communities very differently while recognizing the fundamental differences in the complexity of the water systems, financial resources, and technical capability. To view Sophia Oberton’s testimony, please click here.