Water Cyber Shield Act of 2026

This bill establishes cybersecurity requirements for drinking water and wastewater systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. These statutes rest on the Commerce Clause, which grants Congress authority to regulate activities that substantially affect interstate commerce. Water systems are integral to public health, economic activity, and the environment; contamination or disruption of such systems can have nationwide effects, including on interstate commerce in goods, services, and navigation. The bill's cybersecurity measures are necessary and prope…

This bill exceeds the limited powers delegated to Congress by the Constitution. The regulation of drinking water and wastewater systems, including their cybersecurity, is a matter reserved to the states or the people under the Tenth Amendment. The federal government possesses no enumerated power to impose such requirements, as the Commerce Clause does not extend to every activity that might affect interstate commerce in a remote or indirect manner. Moreover, the Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures; imposing cybersecurity mandates may lead to unwarranted federal…

The proposed bill seeks to impose cybersecurity requirements on drinking water and wastewater systems under the auspices of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. While Congress possesses authority under the Commerce Clause to regulate activities that substantially affect interstate commerce, and water systems often serve interstate markets or receive interstate inputs, the Tenth Amendment reserves to the states those powers not delegated to the United States. The bill must be carefully confined to systems whose operations demonstrably affect interstate commer…

This bill is constitutional. The Congress possesses the power to regulate commerce among the several states under Article I, Section 8, Clause 3. Water systems, being essential to public health and economic activity, substantially affect interstate commerce; their disruption by cybersecurity threats would impede the flow of goods and services across state lines, placing this regulation within the ambit of the commerce power. Moreover, the Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18) authorizes Congress to adopt means that are appropriate and plainly adapted to legitimate ends.…