Emergency Water Infrastructure Improvements Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 755 To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to provide additional assistance for public water systems damaged by Winter Storms Uri and Viola, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 16, 2021 Mrs. HYDE-SMITH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protec- tion Agency to provide additional assistance for public water systems damaged by Winter Storms Uri and Viola, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Water In- 4 frastructure Improvements Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:14 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S755.IS S755 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 755 IS SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL INFRASTRUCTURE 1 AUTHORITY. 2 Section 219(f)(167) of the Water Resources Develop- 3 ment Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–580; 106 Stat. 4835; 4 113 Stat. 335; 121 Stat. 1263) is amended by striking 5 ‘‘$25,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$47,000,000’’. 6 SEC. 3. SAFE DRINKING WATER INFRASTRUCTURE. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 9 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ- 10 mental Protection Agency. 11 (2) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘‘eligible 12 State’’ means a State— 13 (A) for which the President has declared 14 not fewer than 5 major disasters under the 15 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer- 16 gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); 17 and 18 (B) in which public water systems suffered 19 major damage, as determined by the Adminis- 20 trator, from Winter Storms Uri and Viola. 21 (3) ELIGIBLE SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘eligible sys- 22 tem’’ means a public water system that has been 23 subject to an emergency administrative order pursu- 24 ant to section 1431 of the Safe Drinking Water Act 25 (42 U.S.C. 300i) during calendar year 2020. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:14 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S755.IS S755 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 755 IS (4) PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘public 1 water system’’ has the meaning given the term in 2 section 1401 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 3 U.S.C. 300f). 4 (b) STATE REVOLVING LOAN FUND ASSISTANCE.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 6 provision of law, an eligible system shall be— 7 (A) considered a disadvantaged community 8 for purposes of subsection (d) of section 1452 9 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 10 300j–12); and 11 (B) eligible to receive the additional sub- 12 sidization described in paragraph (1) of that 13 subsection, including the forgiveness of prin- 14 cipal described in that paragraph. 15 (2) AUTHORIZATION.—An eligible State may 16 use funds made available under a capitalization 17 grant provided under subsection (c) to provide the 18 additional subsidization described in paragraph 19 (1)(B) to an eligible system within the eligible State 20 to address contaminants in drinking water, which 21 may include the repair and replacement of water dis- 22 tribution system components. 23 (c) DRINKING WATER STATE REVOLVING FUNDS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:14 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S755.IS S755 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 755 IS (1) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated to 1 the Administrator, out of any funds of the Treasury 2 not otherwise appropriated, $150,000,000 to provide 3 additional capitalization grants to eligible States 4 pursuant to section 1452 of the Safe Drinking 5 Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–12) for the purposes de- 6 scribed in subsection (b)(2), to remain available 7 until expended. 8 (2) INTENDED USE PLANS.—Not later than 30 9 days after the date on which an eligible State sub- 10 mits to the Administrator a revised intended use 11 plan under section 1452(b) of the Safe Drinking 12 Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–12(b)) that includes in- 13 formation with respect to projects described in sub- 14 section (b)(2) to be funded using amounts made 15 available in a capitalization grant pursuant to para- 16 graph (1), the Administrator shall make a capital- 17 ization grant to the eligible State in such amount as 18 is necessary to fund the projects described in the re- 19 vised intended use plan. 20 (3) REQUIREMENT.—Of the funds provided to 21 an eligible State in a capitalization grant made pur- 22 suant to paragraph (1), the eligible State may use 23 not more than 15 percent to provide assistance to an 24 eligible system for the purposes of purchasing and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:14 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S755.IS S755 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 755 IS installing new water meters and modernizing billing 1 systems. 2 (d) NONDUPLICATION OF WORK.—An activity car- 3 ried out using funds made available under this section 4 shall not duplicate or impede the work of any other Fed- 5 eral or State department or agency. 6 SEC. 4. ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE GRANTS FOR 7 DRINKING WATER INFRASTRUCTURE. 8 Of the amounts made available under the heading 9 ‘‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS’’ 10 under the heading ‘‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINIS- 11 TRATION’’ under title II of division B of the CARES Act 12 (Public Law 116–136; 134 Stat. 510), or for grants for 13 economic development assistance under the heading ‘‘ECO- 14 NOMIC DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS’’ under the 15 heading ‘‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION’’ 16 under title I of division B of the Consolidated Appropria- 17 tions Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260), that are unobli- 18 gated on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 19 of Commerce shall provide not less than $25,000,000 to 20 eligible systems (as defined in section 3(a)) to address con- 21 taminants in drinking water. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:14 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S755.IS S755 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS