Clean Water Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3751 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a program to make grants to eligible entities to increase the resilience of publicly owned treatment works to natural disasters, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 8, 2021 Mr. CARBAJAL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to estab- lish a program to make grants to eligible entities to increase the resilience of publicly owned treatment works to natural disasters, 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 ‘‘Clean Water Infra- 4 structure Resilience and Sustainability Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3751.IH H3751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3751 IH SEC. 2. CLEAN WATER INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCY AND 1 SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM. 2 Title II of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 3 (33 U.S.C. 1281 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 4 the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 222. CLEAN WATER INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCY 6 AND SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM. 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 9 tity’ means— 10 ‘‘(A) a municipality; or 11 ‘‘(B) an intermunicipal, interstate, or State 12 agency. 13 ‘‘(2) NATURAL HAZARD.—The term ‘natural 14 hazard’ means a natural event that threatens the 15 functioning of a publicly owned treatment works, in- 16 cluding extreme weather events and hydrological 17 changes. 18 ‘‘(3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘program’ means 19 the clean water infrastructure resilience and sustain- 20 ability program established under subsection (b). 21 ‘‘(4) RESILIENCE.—The term ‘resilience’ means 22 the ability of a publicly owned treatment works or 23 an asset of a publicly owned treatment works— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3751.IH H3751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3751 IH ‘‘(A) to adapt to, or withstand the effects 1 of, a natural hazard, without interruption to the 2 function of the plant or asset; or 3 ‘‘(B) if the function is interrupted due to 4 a natural hazard, to rapidly return to a normal 5 operating condition. 6 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall es- 7 tablish a clean water infrastructure resilience and sustain- 8 ability program under which the Administrator shall 9 award grants to eligible entities for the purpose of increas- 10 ing the resilience of publicly owned treatment works to a 11 natural hazard. 12 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 13 a grant under the program shall use the grant funds for 14 planning, designing, or constructing projects (on a system- 15 wide or area-wide basis) that increase the resilience of a 16 publicly owned treatment works to a natural hazard 17 through— 18 ‘‘(1) the conservation of water; 19 ‘‘(2) the enhancement of water use efficiency; 20 ‘‘(3) the enhancement of wastewater and 21 stormwater management by increasing watershed 22 preservation and protection, including through the 23 use of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3751.IH H3751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3751 IH ‘‘(A) natural and engineered green infra- 1 structure; and 2 ‘‘(B) reclamation and reuse of wastewater 3 and stormwater, such as aquifer recharge zones; 4 ‘‘(4) the modification or relocation of an exist- 5 ing publicly owned treatment works that is at risk 6 of being significantly impaired or damaged by a nat- 7 ural hazard; 8 ‘‘(5) the development and implementation of 9 projects to increase the resilience of publicly owned 10 treatment works to a natural hazard; or 11 ‘‘(6) the enhancement of energy efficiency or 12 the use and generation of recovered or renewable en- 13 ergy in the management, treatment, or conveyance 14 of wastewater or stormwater. 15 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 16 under the program, an eligible entity shall submit to the 17 Administrator an application at such time, in such man- 18 ner, and containing such information as the Administrator 19 may require, including— 20 ‘‘(1) a proposal of the project to be planned, de- 21 signed, or constructed using funds under the pro- 22 gram; 23 ‘‘(2) an identification of the natural hazard risk 24 to be addressed by the proposed project; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3751.IH H3751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3751 IH ‘‘(3) documentation prepared by a Federal, 1 State, regional, or local government agency of the 2 natural hazard risk of the area where the proposed 3 project is to be located; 4 ‘‘(4) a description of any recent natural hazard 5 events that have affected the publicly owned treat- 6 ment works; 7 ‘‘(5) a description of how the proposed project 8 would improve the performance of the publicly 9 owned treatment works under an anticipated natural 10 hazard; and 11 ‘‘(6) an explanation of how the proposed project 12 is expected to enhance the resilience of the publicly 13 owned treatment works to an anticipated natural 14 hazard. 15 ‘‘(e) GRANT AMOUNT AND OTHER FEDERAL RE- 16 QUIREMENTS.— 17 ‘‘(1) COST SHARE.—A grant under the program 18 shall not exceed 75 percent of the total cost of the 19 proposed project. 20 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements of 21 section 608 shall apply to a project funded with a 22 grant under the program. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3751.IH H3751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3751 IH ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 2 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.’’. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Jun 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3751.IH H3751 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS