PFAS Drinking Water Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2533 To assist community water systems affected by PFAS contamination, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2019 Mr. PALLONE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To assist community water systems affected by PFAS contamination, 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 ‘‘Providing Financial 4 Assistance for Safe Drinking Water Act’’ or the ‘‘PFAS 5 Drinking Water Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2533.IH H2533 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2533 IH SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PFAS INFRASTRUCTURE 1 GRANT PROGRAM. 2 Part E of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 3 300j et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 4 lowing new section: 5 ‘‘SEC. 1459E. ASSISTANCE FOR COMMUNITY WATER SYS- 6 TEMS AFFECTED BY PFAS. 7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 8 after the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis- 9 trator shall establish a program to award grants to af- 10 fected community water systems to pay for capital costs 11 associated with the implementation of eligible treatment 12 technologies. 13 ‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.— 14 ‘‘(1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 12 months 15 after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad- 16 ministrator shall publish guidance describing the 17 form and timing for community water systems to 18 apply for grants under this section. 19 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—The Adminis- 20 trator shall require a community water system ap- 21 plying for a grant under this section to submit— 22 ‘‘(A) information showing the presence of 23 PFAS in water of the community water system; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2533.IH H2533 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2533 IH ‘‘(B) a certification that the treatment 1 technology in use by the community water sys- 2 tem at the time of application is not sufficient 3 to remove all detectable amounts of PFAS. 4 ‘‘(c) LIST OF ELIGIBLE TREATMENT TECH- 5 NOLOGIES.—Not later than 150 days after the date of en- 6 actment of this section, and every two years thereafter, 7 the Administrator shall publish a list of treatment tech- 8 nologies that the Administrator determines are effective 9 at removing all detectable amounts of PFAS from drink- 10 ing water. 11 ‘‘(d) PRIORITY FOR FUNDING.—In awarding grants 12 under this section, the Administrator shall prioritize af- 13 fected community water systems that— 14 ‘‘(1) serve a disadvantaged community; 15 ‘‘(2) will provide at least a 10-percent cost 16 share for the cost of implementing an eligible treat- 17 ment technology; or 18 ‘‘(3) demonstrate the capacity to maintain the 19 eligible treatment technology to be implemented 20 using the grant. 21 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 22 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 23 not more than $500,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 24 2021 through 2025. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2533.IH H2533 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2533 IH ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1 ‘‘(1) AFFECTED COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEM.— 2 The term ‘affected community water system’ means 3 a community water system that is affected by the 4 presence of PFAS in the water in the community 5 water system. 6 ‘‘(2) DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITY.—The term 7 ‘disadvantaged community’ has the meaning given 8 that term in section 1452. 9 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY.— 10 The term ‘eligible treatment technology’ means a 11 treatment technology included on the list published 12 under subsection (c).’’. 13 SEC. 3. DEFINITION. 14 Section 1401 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 15 U.S.C. 300f) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(17) PFAS.—The term ‘PFAS’ means a 18 perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substance with at 19 least one fully fluorinated carbon atom.’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2533.IH H2533 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS