Water Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3490 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act to authorize grants for smart water infrastructure technology, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2023 Mr. GALLEGO (for himself and Mr. DUARTE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc- ture, 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 within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act to authorize grants for smart water infrastructure technology, and for other pur- poses. 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Water Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3490 IH (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Purposes. TITLE I—WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE Sec. 101. Smart wastewater infrastructure technology for treatment works. TITLE II—DRINKING WATER INFRASTRUCTURE Sec. 201. Smart water infrastructure technology for drinking water. SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 3 The purposes of this Act are— 4 (1) to upgrade and modernize the drinking 5 water, wastewater, and stormwater systems of the 6 United States; 7 (2) to support the modernization of the publicly 8 owned treatment works of the United States to 9 maintain reliable and affordable water quality infra- 10 structure that addresses demand impacts, including 11 resiliency, to improve public health and natural re- 12 sources; 13 (3) to support the modernization of the drink- 14 ing water infrastructure and management systems of 15 the United States to maintain reliable, resilient, and 16 affordable drinking water infrastructure and ensure 17 the protection of public health; and 18 (4) to encourage the use of water-efficient tech- 19 nologies to address drought and prepare for the 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3490 IH growing strain that population growth and climate 1 change will have on over-allocated water supplies. 2 TITLE I—WASTEWATER 3 INFRASTRUCTURE 4 SEC. 101. SMART WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE TECH- 5 NOLOGY FOR TREATMENT WORKS. 6 Title II of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 7 (33 U.S.C. 1281 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 8 the following: 9 ‘‘SEC. 228. SMART WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE TECH- 10 NOLOGY. 11 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—Subject to the availability of appro- 12 priations, the Administrator shall make direct grants to 13 owners and operators of publicly owned treatment works 14 for planning, design, construction, implementation, train- 15 ing, and operations relating to— 16 ‘‘(1) intelligent wastewater treatment and col- 17 lection systems and stormwater management oper- 18 ations, including technologies that rely on— 19 ‘‘(A) the use of real-time monitoring, man- 20 agement, analytics, and data collection tools, 21 embedded intelligence, and predictive mainte- 22 nance capabilities that improve the energy effi- 23 ciency, cost efficiency, reliability, and resiliency 24 of wastewater treatment systems; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3490 IH ‘‘(B) real-time remote sensors that provide 1 continuous monitoring of water quality in 2 stormwater and wastewater treatment and col- 3 lection systems to support the optimization of 4 those stormwater and wastewater treatment 5 and collection systems; and 6 ‘‘(C) the use of artificial intelligence and 7 other intelligent optimization tools that— 8 ‘‘(i) reduce operational costs, includ- 9 ing operational costs relating to energy 10 consumption and chemical treatment; and 11 ‘‘(ii) improve decisionmaking; 12 ‘‘(2) innovative and alternative combined sewer 13 and stormwater control projects, including ground- 14 water banking, that rely on real-time data acquisi- 15 tion to support predictive aquifer recharge through 16 water reuse and stormwater management capabili- 17 ties; and 18 ‘‘(3) advanced digital design and construction 19 management tools relating to stormwater and waste- 20 water treatment and collection systems, including 21 advanced digital models. 22 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION.— 23 ‘‘(1) SELECTION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3490 IH ‘‘(A) APPLICATION.—The owner or oper- 1 ator of a publicly owned treatment works seek- 2 ing a grant under subsection (a) shall submit to 3 the Administrator an application at such time, 4 in such manner, and containing such informa- 5 tion as the Administrator may require. 6 ‘‘(B) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 30 days 7 after the date of enactment of this section, the 8 Administrator shall issue guidance to owners 9 and operators of publicly owned treatment 10 works on how to submit an application under 11 subparagraph (A). 12 ‘‘(C) SELECTION.—Not later than 30 days 13 after the date on which the owner or operator 14 of a publicly owned treatment works seeking a 15 grant under subsection (a) submits an applica- 16 tion under subparagraph (A), the Administrator 17 shall determine whether to approve or deny the 18 application. 19 ‘‘(D) DEFICIENT APPLICATIONS.—If the 20 Administrator determines that an application 21 submitted under subparagraph (A) is deficient, 22 the Administrator shall— 23 ‘‘(i) advise the applicant of the defi- 24 ciency; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3490 IH ‘‘(ii) provide an opportunity for the 1 applicant to resubmit the application. 2 ‘‘(2) DISBURSEMENT.—If the Administrator 3 approves an application under paragraph (1)(C), the 4 Administrator shall disburse grant funds not later 5 than 60 days after the date of the determination. 6 ‘‘(c) COST-SHARE.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 8 graph (2), the non-Federal share of an activity car- 9 ried out using a grant under subsection (a) shall be 10 25 percent. 11 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Administrator may waive 12 the cost-share requirement under paragraph (1) if 13 the Administrator determines that the cost-share re- 14 quirement would be financially unreasonable due to 15 the inability of a community being served by the 16 publicly owned treatment works for which the grant 17 is sought to comply with the cost-share requirement. 18 ‘‘(d) COMPLIANCE WITH BUY AMERICA.—Section 19 608 shall apply to grant funds under this section. 20 ‘‘(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 22 after the date of enactment of this section, and not 23 less frequently than annually thereafter, the Admin- 24 istrator shall submit to Congress a report that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3490 IH ‘‘(A) describes— 1 ‘‘(i) the projects awarded grants 2 under subsection (a); and 3 ‘‘(ii) the improvements in the resil- 4 iency of publicly owned treatment works 5 that resulted from the grants awarded 6 under subsection (a); and 7 ‘‘(B) includes any recommendations of the 8 Administrator to improve the ability of grants 9 under subsection (a) to achieve the purposes de- 10 scribed in section 2 of the Water Infrastructure 11 Modernization Act of 2023. 12 ‘‘(2) INITIAL REPORT.—The initial report re- 13 quired under paragraph (1) shall include a descrip- 14 tion of the implementation of this section, including 15 a description of— 16 ‘‘(A) the projects approved for a grant 17 under subsection (a); 18 ‘‘(B) the projects denied a grant under 19 subsection (a); and 20 ‘‘(C) for the projects described in subpara- 21 graph (B), a description of the reasons for 22 which each project was denied a grant. 23 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3490 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 1 appropriated to carry out this section $25,000,000 2 for the period of fiscal years 2024 through 2028, to 3 remain available until expended. 4 ‘‘(2) SET-ASIDES.— 5 ‘‘(A) RURAL COMMUNITIES.—Of the 6 amounts made available under paragraph (1), 7 the Administrator shall use not more than 25 8 percent to make grants to owners and operators 9 of publicly owned treatment works that serve 10 communities with a population of not more 11 than 10,000 individuals. 12 ‘‘(B) TRIBAL COMMUNITIES.—Of the 13 amounts made available under subparagraph 14 (A), the Administrator shall use not less than 15 10 percent to make grants to owners and oper- 16 ators of publicly owned treatment works that 17 serve Indian Tribes.’’. 18 TITLE II—DRINKING WATER 19 INFRASTRUCTURE 20 SEC. 201. SMART WATER INFRASTRUCTURE TECHNOLOGY 21 FOR DRINKING WATER. 22 Section 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 23 U.S.C. 300j–12) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3490 IH (1) in subsection (m)(1), by striking ‘‘sub- 1 sections (a)(2)(G) and (t)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 2 sections (a)(2)(G), (t), and (u)’’; and 3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(u) SMART WATER INFRASTRUCTURE TECH- 5 NOLOGY.— 6 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.—Subject to the availability of 7 appropriations, the Administrator shall make direct 8 grants to the owners or operators of community 9 water systems for purposes of planning, design, con- 10 struction, implementation, training, and operations 11 relating to— 12 ‘‘(A) smart water network technologies 13 that— 14 ‘‘(i) can identify or reduce water 15 losses in a nondestructive or nondisruptive 16 manner, including through analytical soft- 17 ware, flow and pressure monitoring, or 18 acoustic data collection; and 19 ‘‘(ii) provide— 20 ‘‘(I) predictive and diagnostic in- 21 formation for informed decision- 22 making; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3490 IH ‘‘(II) comprehensive data on 1 pipeline integrity that document the 2 presence of leaks or gas pockets; and 3 ‘‘(III) information on the extent 4 of such leaks or gas pockets, with an 5 emphasis on detecting weakness of, 6 vulnerability of, or damage to pipe 7 barrels, pipe joints, or other pipe fea- 8 tures; 9 ‘‘(B) real-time remote sensing technologies, 10 including the use of advanced data management 11 and analytics, that detect and alert operators to 12 water quality events, leakages, and pipeline 13 bursts on a real-time basis, including persistent 14 sensor networks capable of measuring— 15 ‘‘(i) acoustic signals; 16 ‘‘(ii) pressure transient; 17 ‘‘(iii) water quality; or 18 ‘‘(iv) water flow; 19 ‘‘(C) real-time decision support tech- 20 nologies that integrate sources of data about 21 water treatment systems and distribution net- 22 works to deliver common operations information 23 relying on data analytics that can improve oper- 24 ational decisionmaking, including nonrevenue 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 3490 IH water loss, energy optimization, cost efficiency, 1 asset maintenance management, and water 2 quality improvement; 3 ‘‘(D) advanced metering infrastructure, in- 4 cluding meter data analytics and ratepayer 5 technology— 6 ‘‘(i) to improve end user conservation; 7 and 8 ‘‘(ii) in support of disadvantaged com- 9 munities; 10 ‘‘(E) resilient water supply projects that 11 may provide real-time monitoring of weather 12 patterns and impacts on water supply and flood 13 protection reservoirs and dams that enhance op- 14 erations, including— 15 ‘‘(i) improved water supply reliability 16 and management; 17 ‘‘(ii) protection of natural resources, 18 including fisheries; and 19 ‘‘(iii) temperature control; 20 ‘‘(F) innovative and alternative water sup- 21 ply projects, including groundwater banking, 22 that rely on real-time data acquisition to sup- 23 port predictive aquifer recharge through water 24 reuse and stormwater management capabilities; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 3490 IH ‘‘(G) artificial intelligence and other intel- 1 ligent optimization tools that— 2 ‘‘(i) reduce operational costs, includ- 3 ing operational costs relating to energy 4 consumption and chemical treatment; and 5 ‘‘(ii) improve decisionmaking; and 6 ‘‘(H) advanced digital design and construc- 7 tion management tools relating to water treat- 8 ment systems and distribution networks, includ- 9 ing the development of advanced digital models. 10 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION.— 11 ‘‘(A) SELECTION.— 12 ‘‘(i) APPLICATION.—The owner or op- 13 erator of a community water system seek- 14 ing a grant under paragraph (1) shall sub- 15 mit to the Administrator an application at 16 such time, in such manner, and containing 17 such information as the Administrator may 18 require. 19 ‘‘(ii) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 30 20 days after the date of enactment of this 21 subsection, the Administrator shall issue 22 guidance to owners and operators of com- 23 munity water systems on how to submit an 24 application under clause (i). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:56 Jun 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3490.IH H3490 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 •HR 3490 IH ‘‘(iii) SELECTION.—Not later than 30 1 days after the date on which the owner or 2 operator of a community water system 3 seeking a grant under paragraph (1) sub- 4 mits an application under clause (i), the 5 Administrator shall determine whether to 6 approve or deny the application. 7 ‘‘(iv) DEFICIENT APPLICATIONS.—If 8 the Administrator determines that an ap- [Text truncated for display. 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