Clean Water Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2470 To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to estab- lish a program to make grants to eligible entities to increase the resilience of publicly owned treatment works to natural disasters. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 2, 2019 Mr. CARBAJAL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program to make grants to eligible entities to increase the resilience of publicly owned treat- ment works to natural disasters. 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’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2470.IH H2470 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2470 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. 1251 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) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall estab- 8 lish a clean water infrastructure resilience and sustain- 9 ability program, under which the Administrator shall 10 award grants to eligible entities for the purpose of increas- 11 ing the resilience of publicly owned treatment works to a 12 natural disaster. 13 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 14 a grant under this section shall use such grant funds for 15 planning, designing, or constructing projects (on a system- 16 wide or area-wide basis) that increase the resilience of a 17 publicly owned treatment works to a natural disaster 18 through— 19 ‘‘(1) the conservation of water; 20 ‘‘(2) the enhancement of water use efficiency; 21 ‘‘(3) the enhancement of wastewater and 22 stormwater management by increasing watershed 23 preservation and protection, including through the 24 use of natural and engineered green infrastructure, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2470.IH H2470 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2470 IH and reclamation and reuse of wastewater and 1 stormwater, such as aquifer recharge zones; 2 ‘‘(4) the modification or relocation of an exist- 3 ing publicly owned treatment works at risk of being 4 significantly impaired or damaged by a natural dis- 5 aster; 6 ‘‘(5) the development and implementation of 7 projects to increase the resilience of publicly owned 8 treatment works to a natural disaster; or 9 ‘‘(6) the enhancement of energy efficiency or 10 the use and generation of recovered or renewable en- 11 ergy in management, treatment, or conveyance of 12 wastewater or stormwater. 13 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 14 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 15 Administrator an application that— 16 ‘‘(1) includes a proposal of the project to be 17 planned, designed, or constructed using funds under 18 this section; 19 ‘‘(2) identifies the natural disaster risk to be 20 addressed by the proposed project; 21 ‘‘(3) provides documentation prepared by a 22 Federal, State, regional, or local government agency 23 of the natural disaster risk to the area where the 24 proposed project is to be located; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2470.IH H2470 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2470 IH ‘‘(4) includes a description of any recent nat- 1 ural disaster events that have affected the publicly 2 owned treatment works; 3 ‘‘(5) includes a description of how the proposed 4 project would improve the performance of the pub- 5 licly owned treatment works under an anticipated 6 natural disaster; and 7 ‘‘(6) explains how the proposed project is ex- 8 pected to enhance the resilience of the publicly 9 owned treatment works to an anticipated natural 10 disaster. 11 ‘‘(d) GRANT AMOUNT AND OTHER FEDERAL RE- 12 QUIREMENTS.— 13 ‘‘(1) GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant under this sec- 14 tion shall not exceed 75 percent of the total cost of 15 the proposed project. 16 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements of 17 section 608 of this Act shall apply to any project 18 funded under this section. 19 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 20 definitions apply: 21 ‘‘(1) NATURAL DISASTER.—The term ‘natural 22 disaster’ means a disaster caused by natural forces, 23 including extreme weather events, sea-level rise, or 24 extreme drought conditions. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2470.IH H2470 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2470 IH ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en- 1 tity’ means— 2 ‘‘(A) a municipality; or 3 ‘‘(B) an intermunicipal, interstate, or State 4 agency. 5 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 6 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 7 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2025.’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 May 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2470.IH H2470 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS