Disadvantaged Community Drinking Water Assistance Act

IB Union Calendar No. 555 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5347 [Report No. 116–671, Part I] To require the Secretary of the Interior to establish a grant program to close gaps in access to safe drinking water in disadvantaged communities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 6, 2019 Mr. COX of California (for himself, Mr. COSTA, Mr. HARDER of California, and Mr. HUFFMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned DECEMBER 18, 2020 Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] DECEMBER 18, 2020 Committee on Energy and Commerce discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 6, 2019] VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5347 RH A BILL To require the Secretary of the Interior to establish a grant program to close gaps in access to safe drinking water in disadvantaged communities, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5347 RH 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 ‘‘Disadvantaged Commu- 4 nity Drinking Water Assistance Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) many areas in the State of California, par- 8 ticularly in the San Joaquin Valley region, are dis- 9 proportionately impacted by drought because the 10 areas are heavily dependent or completely reliant on 11 groundwater supplies to meet domestic drinking 12 water needs; and 13 (2) those communities throughout the State of 14 California have been impacted by the presence of nat- 15 urally occurring and human-caused constituents in- 16 cluding arsenic, 1,2,3-Trichloropropane (1,2,3-TCP), 17 hexavalent chromium, Dibromochloropropane 18 (DBCP), uranium, and nitrates in local groundwater 19 supplies. 20 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM. 21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior 22 shall establish and carry out a grant program to be known 23 as the ‘‘Disadvantaged Community Drinking Water Assist- 24 ance Program’’ to provide financial assistance to disadvan- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5347 RH taged communities that have experienced a significant de- 1 cline in quantity or quality of drinking water, and to ob- 2 tain or maintain adequate quantities of water that meet 3 the standards set by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act 4 (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.). Grants under this section may be 5 provided to communities within a Reclamation State, as 6 defined by the Reclamation Act of 1902 (43 U.S.C. 391)— 7 (1) that are unable to meet the primary drinking 8 water quality standards under that Act; or 9 (2) the local private or public water supply of 10 which has been lost or severely diminished due to 11 drought conditions, groundwater overdraft conditions, 12 or climate change conditions. 13 (b) ELIGIBLE COMMUNITIES.—Grants provided under 14 this section shall be used to benefit communities— 15 (1) located in a city, town, or special district 16 with a population of not more than 60,000 of resi- 17 dents; and 18 (2) that have a median household income of less 19 than 100 percent of the nonmetropolitan median 20 household income of the State in which the commu- 21 nity is located. 22 (c) ELIGIBLE USES.—Grants provided under this sec- 23 tion may be used for the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5347 RH (1) Point of use treatment and point of entry 1 systems. 2 (2) Wellhead treatment and distributed treat- 3 ment facilities. 4 (3) Blending systems in compliance with State 5 regulations. 6 (4) Costs related to the consolidation of multiple 7 small rural water systems or a small rural water sys- 8 tem with a larger system. 9 (5) Construction of new water source facilities 10 including wells and connections to existing systems. 11 (6) Water distribution facilities. 12 (7) Water capacity fees, water supply develop- 13 ment fees, water connections fees, and similar fees 14 that are assessed when a new connection is added to 15 an existing water system as part of a consolidation. 16 (8) Assistance to households to connect to water 17 facilities. 18 (9) Emergency water supplies. 19 (10) A combination of activities described in 20 paragraphs (1) through (9). 21 (11) Application and technical assistance costs 22 associated with the activities described in paragraphs 23 (1) through (9). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5347 RH (d) PRIORITIZATION.—In determining priorities for 1 funding projects, the Secretary of the Interior shall take into 2 consideration— 3 (1) communities that are currently operating 4 under a notice of violation for failing to provide pota- 5 ble water that meets primary drinking water stand- 6 ards; 7 (2) whether the applicant has the ability to qual- 8 ify for alternative funding sources that do not result 9 in water rate increases unable to be absorbed by the 10 residential ratepayers; 11 (3) communities deemed vulnerable to water 12 shortage conditions because the system is located in a 13 critically overdrafted groundwater basin, and the sys- 14 tem has only a single water supply source; 15 (4) rural communities served by individual, on- 16 site domestic wells that have documented dry well 17 conditions or contaminated well conditions; and 18 (5) public water systems that desire to consoli- 19 date with each other, or with a larger urban system, 20 to increase economies-of-scale to reduce cost of service, 21 and increase the level and quality of water service de- 22 livery. 23 (e) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant pro- 24 vided under this section may be used to fund— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5347 RH (1) not more than 100 percent of costs for activi- 1 ties, including— 2 (A) technical assistance and other costs as- 3 sociated with application for assistance through 4 the Disadvantaged Community Drinking Water 5 Assistance Program; 6 (B) initial operating costs incurred to start 7 up, test, and place into service project facilities 8 and components; and 9 (C) capital costs of construction or compo- 10 nents to ensure such facilities and components 11 are properly operational; and 12 (2) not more than 25 percent of costs for assist- 13 ance with operation and maintenance costs incurred 14 subsequent to placing the facilities or components into 15 service to ensure service remains efficient and effec- 16 tive. 17 (f) OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE.—Not more than 18 25 percent of funds made available in any fiscal year for 19 grants under this section shall be used for operations and 20 maintenance costs. States may use a State circuit riding 21 operations assistance team to identify applicants approved 22 for operations and maintenance assistance. 23 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 24 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of the Inte- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5347 RH rior to carry out this section $20,000,000 for each of fiscal 1 years 2021 through 2025, to remain available until ex- 2 pended. 3 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS Union Calendar No. 555 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5347 [Report No. 116–671, Part I] A BILL To require the Secretary of the Interior to establish a grant program to close gaps in access to safe drinking water in disadvantaged communities, and for other purposes. DECEMBER 18, 2020 Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment DECEMBER 18, 2020 Committee on Energy and Commerce discharged; com- mitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Dec 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H5347.RH H5347 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS