ARPA–H20 Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6113 To establish an Advanced Research Projects Agency–Water, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 5, 2020 Mr. KATKO (for himself and Mr. KILDEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To establish an Advanced Research Projects Agency–Water, 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 ‘‘ARPA–H20 Act of 4 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY–WATER. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 7 the Environmental Protection Agency the Advanced Re- 8 search Projects Agency–Water, headed by a Director, who 9 shall be appointed by the Administrator to carry out pro- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6113 IH grams to provide funds to eligible entities for projects in- 1 tended to enhance, through the deployment of advanced 2 technologies, the treatment, monitoring, delivery, afford- 3 ability, and safety of— 4 (1) drinking water provided by a water system; 5 (2) wastewater or stormwater discharged by a 6 water system; 7 (3) groundwater or well water used for drinking 8 water; or 9 (4) any other activities carried out by a water 10 system for the purposes of enhancing public health 11 or environmental safety. 12 (b) PROGRAMS.—ARPA–H20 shall be comprised of 13 programs that— 14 (1) provide funds for projects described in sub- 15 section (a), as determined appropriate by the Direc- 16 tor; and 17 (2) are carried out and overseen by program 18 managers under subsection (e). 19 (c) RESEARCH ADVISORY COUNCIL.— 20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish 21 a research advisory council to recommend the con- 22 tent of the programs under ARPA–H20, including 23 annual research priorities for funding consideration. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:20 Mar 16, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6113 IH (2) MEMBERSHIP.—The council established 1 under paragraph (1) shall be composed of 12 mem- 2 bers appointed by the Director who represent— 3 (A) public and private water systems in- 4 cluding large decentralized systems; 5 (B) academia; 6 (C) national nonprofits and organizations 7 that represent the water sector and collaborate 8 with the Agency; 9 (D) public or private entities engaged in 10 technology development, deployment, or con- 11 sultation to enhance delivery, reliability, afford- 12 ability, and safety of the operations of water 13 systems; and 14 (E) relevant Federal agencies. 15 (d) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIRECTOR.—The Di- 16 rector shall— 17 (1) approve each grant, contract, cooperative 18 agreement, cash prize, or other transaction to fund 19 projects under this Act; 20 (2) terminate funding for any project under 21 this Act that does not meet the goals of the program 22 through which such project was funded; 23 (3) ensure that projects funded under this Act 24 are not duplicative of other Federal research 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6113 IH projects that enhance the delivery, reliability, afford- 1 ability, and safety of the operations of water sys- 2 tems; 3 (4) coordinate with non-governmental entities 4 for demonstration of technologies and research ap- 5 plications to facilitate technology transfer; 6 (5) establish research and development goals to 7 carry out this Act; 8 (6) set criteria for funding and assessment of 9 projects under this Act in addition to the criteria es- 10 tablished in section 3(c); and 11 (7) provide funds through any funding mecha- 12 nism that the Director determines appropriate to eli- 13 gible entities to carry out this Act. 14 (e) PROGRAM MANAGERS.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall designate 16 managers to carry out the programs established 17 under subsection (b). 18 (2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—A program manager 19 shall— 20 (A) establish research and development 21 goals for the program, including by convening 22 workshops, conferring with outside experts, and 23 publicizing the goals of the program to public 24 and private sector entities; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6113 IH (B) solicit applications for projects in spe- 1 cific areas of particular promise, especially 2 areas that the private sector or the Federal 3 Government are not likely to undertake alone; 4 (C) build research collaborations to carry 5 out the program; and 6 (D) establish a selection process under the 7 program based upon criteria established in sec- 8 tion 3(c). 9 (3) TERM.—The term of a program manager 10 shall be not more than 5 years and such term may 11 be renewed by the Director. 12 SEC. 3. SELECTION OF RECIPIENTS OF FUNDS. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out a program under 14 this Act, the program manager shall select projects de- 15 scribed in subsection (b) to receive funds under the pro- 16 gram. 17 (b) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Projects related to the 18 following shall be eligible for funding under a program: 19 (1) Advanced technologies for— 20 (A) the security and materials of water 21 systems; or 22 (B) the testing, monitoring, conveyance, 23 distribution, and treatment of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6113 IH (i) drinking water provided by a water 1 system; or 2 (ii) wastewater or stormwater dis- 3 charged by a water system. 4 (2) Water technologies that may improve effi- 5 ciency and resiliency of water systems, lower life- 6 cycle costs or reduce energy consumption of water 7 systems treatment and conveyance. 8 (3) Methods to detect, monitor, and address 9 contaminants present in drinking water or waste- 10 water. 11 (4) Methods to advance nutrient management 12 for source water protection. 13 (5) Resource recovery of marketable products 14 derived from water systems including, but not lim- 15 ited to, nutrient, biosolids, energy, metals, and recy- 16 cled water. 17 (6) Advancements in beneficial reuse and de- 18 salination that support the diversification of water 19 supplies. 20 (7) Approaches to mitigation, containment, and 21 treatment of stormwater. 22 (8) Methods to test, treat, and study the im- 23 pacts of emerging contaminants. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6113 IH (9) Any other activities carried out by a water 1 system for the purposes of enhancing public health 2 or environmental safety. 3 (c) CRITERIA.—A program manager shall select a 4 project to receive funds under the program based on the 5 demonstration of the applicant of— 6 (1) the scientific and technical merit of the pro- 7 posed project; 8 (2) transformative technological potential; 9 (3) the potential for cost effective technology 10 applications; 11 (4) the capabilities of the applicants to success- 12 fully carry out the proposed project; 13 (5) the consideration of future commercial ap- 14 plications of the project, including the feasibility of 15 partnering with one or more water sector entities; 16 (6) the potential of the applicant to use funds 17 from non-Federal sources in addition to the funds 18 made available under this Act; and 19 (7) any other criteria considered appropriate by 20 the Director. 21 SEC. 4. TERMINATION; REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 22 (a) TERMINATION.—The authority to carry out this 23 Act shall terminate on the date that is 5 years after the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 6113 IH date on which the first funds are appropriated for ARPA– 1 H20. 2 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 3 (1) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 4 years after the date on which funds are first appro- 5 priated to carry out this Act, the Director shall sub- 6 mit to Congress a report with a detailed list of each 7 project funded under the new ARPA–H20 program 8 and a description of the technological achievements 9 and progress made by the project. 10 (2) TRANSPARENCY.—The Director shall pub- 11 lish on a publicly available website a description of 12 each project that receives funds under this Act, in- 13 cluding— 14 (A) the name of the entity that received 15 such funds; and 16 (B) the amount of funds that such entity 17 received. 18 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 19 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 20 (1) ARPA–H20.—The term ‘‘ARPA–H20’’ 21 means the Advanced Research Projects Agency– 22 Water established in subsection (a). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 6113 IH (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 1 the Director of ARPA–H20 appointed in subsection 2 (a). 3 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti- 4 ty’’ means the following: 5 (A) Nonprofit research organizations. 6 (B) Academic institutions. 7 (C) Private sector entities. 8 (D) Water systems. 9 (E) National labs. 10 (F) Federally funded research and develop- 11 ment centers. 12 (G) Research consortia that consist of enti- 13 ties in industries that the Director determines 14 relevant to the program under this Act. 15 (4) WATER SYSTEMS.—The term ‘‘water sys- 16 tem’’ means an entity that— 17 (A) serves the public; 18 (B) manages the supply, treatment, or con- 19 veyance of— 20 (i) drinking water; 21 (ii) wastewater and water resource re- 22 covery; 23 (iii) stormwater; or 24 (iv) water reuse; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 6113 IH (C) large decentralized systems that pro- 1 vide treatment for two or more households. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:42 Mar 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6113.IH H6113 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS