II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1299

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to establish a program to provide

assistance to small communities for use in carrying out projects and

activities necessary to achieve or maintain compliance with drinking

water standards.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 1, 2001

Mr. DOMENICI (for himself, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. REID, Mrs. BOXER, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. BINGAMAN, and Mrs. HUTCHISON) introduced the following

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment

and Public Works

A BILL

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to establish a program to provide assistance to small communities for use

in carrying out projects and activities necessary to

achieve or maintain compliance with drinking water

standards.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Drinking

5 Water Assistance Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) drinking water standards proposed and in

4 effect as of the date of enactment of this Act will

5 place a large financial burden on many public water

6 systems, especially those public water systems in

7 rural communities serving small populations;

8 (2) the limited scientific, technical, and profes9 sional resources available in small communities com10 plicate the implementation of regulatory require11 ments;

12 (3) small communities often cannot afford to

13 meet water quality standards because of the ex14 penses associated with upgrading public water sys15 tems and training personnel to operate and maintain

16 the public water systems;

17 (4) small communities do not have a tax base

18 for dealing with the costs of upgrading their public

19 water systems;

20 (5) small communities face high per capita

21 costs in improving drinking water quality;

22 (6) small communities would greatly benefit

23 from a grant program designed to provide funding

24 for water quality projects;

25 (7) as of the date of enactment of this Act,

26 there is no Federal program in effect that ade-
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1 quately meets the needs of small, primarily rural

2 communities with respect to public water systems;

3 and

4 (8) since new, more protective arsenic drinking

5 water standards proposed by the Clinton and Bush

6 administrations, respectively, are expected to be im7 plemented in 2006, the grant program established

8 by the amendment made by this Act should be im9 plemented in a manner that ensures that the imple10 mentation of those new standards is not delayed.

11 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS.

12 (a) DEFINITION OF INDIAN TRIBE.—Section

13 1401(14) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C.

14 300f(14)) is amended in the second sentence by striking

15 ‘‘1452,’’ and inserting ‘‘1452 and part G,’’.

16 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Safe

17 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.) is amended

18 by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘PART G—ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL PUBLIC

20 WATER SYSTEMS

21 ‘‘SEC. 1471. DEFINITIONS.

22 ‘‘In this part:

23 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITY.—

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible ac25 tivity’ means a project or activity concerning a
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1 small public water system that is carried out by

2 an eligible entity to comply with drinking water

3 standards.

4 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘eligible ac5 tivity’ includes—

6 ‘‘(i) obtaining technical assistance;

7 and

8 ‘‘(ii) training and certifying operators

9 of small public water systems.

10 ‘‘(C) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘eligible ac11 tivity’ does not include any project or activity to

12 increase the population served by a small public

13 water system, except to the extent that the Ad14 ministrator determines such a project or activ15 ity to be necessary to—

16 ‘‘(i) achieve compliance with a na17 tional primary drinking water regulation;

18 and

19 ‘‘(ii) provide a water supply to a pop20 ulation that, as of the date of enactment of

21 this part, is not served by a safe public

22 water system.

23 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en24 tity’ means a small public water system that—
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1 ‘‘(A) is located in a State or an area gov2 erned by an Indian Tribe; and

3 ‘‘(B)(i) if located in a State, serves a com4 munity that, under affordability criteria estab5 lished by the State under section 1452(d)(3), is

6 determined by the State to be—

7 ‘‘(I) a disadvantaged community; or

8 ‘‘(II) a community that may become a

9 disadvantaged community as a result of

10 carrying out an eligible activity; or

11 ‘‘(ii) if located in an area governed by an

12 Indian Tribe, serves a community that is deter13 mined by the Administrator, under affordability

14 criteria published by the Administrator under

15 section 1452(d)(3) and in consultation with the

16 Secretary, to be—

17 ‘‘(I) a disadvantaged community; or

18 ‘‘(II) a community that the Adminis19 trator expects to become a disadvantaged

20 community as a result of carrying out an

21 eligible activity.

22 ‘‘(3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’ means

23 the small public water assistance program estab24 lished under section 1472(a).
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1 ‘‘(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means

2 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting

3 through the Director of the Indian Health Service.

4 ‘‘(5) SMALL PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM.—The

5 term ‘small public water system’ means a public

6 water system (including a community water system

7 and a noncommunity water system) that serves—

8 ‘‘(A) a community having a population of

9 not more than 200,000; or

10 ‘‘(B) the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

11 ‘‘SEC. 1472. SMALL PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM ASSISTANCE

12 PROGRAM.

13 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after

15 the date of enactment of this part, the Adminis16 trator shall establish a program to provide grants to

17 eligible entities for use in carrying out projects and

18 activities to comply with drinking water standards.

19 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—The Administrator shall

20 award grants under the Program to eligible entities

21 based on—

22 ‘‘(A) first, the financial need of the com23 munity for the grant assistance, as determined

24 by the Administrator; and
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1 ‘‘(B) second, with respect to the commu2 nity in which the eligible entity is located, the

3 per capita cost of complying with drinking

4 water standards, as determined by the Adminis5 trator.

6 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION PROCESS.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that

8 seeks to receive a grant under the Program shall

9 submit to the Administrator, on such form as the

10 Administrator shall prescribe (not to exceed 3 pages

11 in length), an application to receive the grant.

12 ‘‘(2) COMPONENTS.—The application shall

13 include—

14 ‘‘(A) a description of the eligible activities

15 for which the grant is needed;

16 ‘‘(B) a description of the efforts made by

17 the eligible entity, as of the date of submission

18 of the application, to comply with drinking

19 water standards; and

20 ‘‘(C) any other information required to be

21 included by the Administrator.

22 ‘‘(3) REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF APPLICA23 TIONS.—

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—On receipt of an ap25 plication under paragraph (1), the Adminis-
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1 trator shall forward the application to the

2 Council.

3 ‘‘(B) APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL.—Not

4 later than 90 days after receiving the rec5 ommendations of the Council under subsection

6 (e) concerning an application, after taking into

7 consideration the recommendations, the Admin8 istrator shall—

9 ‘‘(i) approve the application and

10 award a grant to the applicant; or

11 ‘‘(ii) disapprove the application.

12 ‘‘(C) RESUBMISSION.—If the Adminis13 trator disapproves an application under sub14 paragraph (B)(ii), the Administrator shall—

15 ‘‘(i) inform the applicant in writing of

16 the disapproval (including the reasons for

17 the disapproval); and

18 ‘‘(ii) provide to the applicant a dead19 line by which the applicant may revise and

20 resubmit the application.

21 ‘‘(c) COST SHARING.—

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para23 graph (2), the Federal share of the cost of carrying

24 out an eligible activity using funds from a grant pro-
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1 vided under the Program shall not exceed 90 per2 cent.

3 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Administrator may waive

4 the requirement to pay the non-Federal share of the

5 cost of carrying out an eligible activity using funds

6 from a grant provided under the Program if the Ad7 ministrator determines that an eligible entity is un8 able to pay, or would experience significant financial

9 hardship if required to pay, the non-Federal share.

10 ‘‘(d) ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF

11 STANDARDS.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

13 the Administrator shall not enforce any standard for

14 drinking water under this Act (including a regula15 tion promulgated under this Act) against an eligible

16 entity during the period beginning on the date on

17 which the eligible entity submits an application for

18 a grant under the Program and ending, as applica19 ble, on—

20 ‘‘(A) the deadline specified in subsection

21 (b)(3)(C)(ii), if the application is disapproved

22 and not resubmitted; or

23 ‘‘(B) the date that is 3 years after the date

24 on which the eligible entity receives a grant

25 under this part, if the application is approved.
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1 ‘‘(2) ARSENIC STANDARDS.—No standard for

2 arsenic in drinking water promulgated under this

3 Act (including a standard in any regulation promul4 gated before the date of enactment of this part)

5 shall be implemented or enforced by the Adminis6 trator in any State until the earlier of January 1,

7 2006 or such date as the Administrator certifies to

8 Congress that—

9 ‘‘(A) the Program has been implemented

10 in the State; and

11 ‘‘(B) the State has made substantial

12 progress, as determined by the Administrator in

13 consultation with the Governor of the State, in

14 complying with drinking water standards under

15 this Act.

16 ‘‘(e) ROLE OF COUNCIL.—The Council shall—

17 ‘‘(1) review applications for grants from eligible

18 entities received by the Administrator under sub19 section (b); and

20 ‘‘(2) for each application, recommend to the

21 Administrator whether the application should be ap22 proved or disapproved.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 1473. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

3 this part $1,900,000,000 for the period of fiscal years

4 2001 through 2006.’’.

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