II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2166 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize technical assistance 

to small public water systems, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 7, 2012 

Mr. CONRAD (for himself, Mr. WICKER, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. JOHNSON of 

South Dakota, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. INHOFE, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. TESTER, 

Mr. CRAPO, Mr. RISCH, Mr. MORAN, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, and Mr. 

BAUCUS) 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 reauthorize technical assistance to small public water systems, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Grassroots Rural and 

5 Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2166 IS

1 (1) the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments 

2 of 1996 (Public Law 104–182) authorized technical 

3 assistance for small and rural communities to assist 

4 those communities in complying with regulations 

5 promulgated pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water 

6 Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 

7 (2) technical assistance and compliance train8 ing— 

9 (A) ensures that Federal regulations do 

10 not overwhelm the resources of small and rural 

11 communities; and 

12 (B) provides small and rural communities 

13 lacking technical resources with the necessary 

14 skills to improve and protect water resources; 

15 (3) across the United States, more than 90 per16 cent of the community water systems serve a popu17 lation of less than 10,000 individuals; 

18 (4) small and rural communities have the great19 est difficulty providing safe, affordable public drink20 ing water and wastewater services due to limited 

21 economies of scale and lack of technical expertise; 

22 and 

23 (5) in addition to being the main source of com24 pliance assistance, small and rural water technical 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2166 IS

1 assistance has been the main source of emergency 

2 response assistance in small and rural communities. 

3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that— 

5 (1) to most effectively assist small and rural 

6 communities, the Environmental Protection Agency 

7 should prioritize the types of technical assistance 

8 that are most beneficial to those communities, based 

9 on input from those communities; and 

10 (2) local support is the key to making Federal 

11 assistance initiatives work in small and rural com12 munities to the maximum benefit. 

13 SEC. 4. FUNDING PRIORITIES. 

14 Section 1442(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 300j–1(e)) is amended— 

16 (1) by designating the first through seventh 

17 sentences as paragraphs (1) through (7), respec18 tively; 

19 (2) in paragraph (5) (as so designated), by 

20 striking ‘‘1997 through 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2012 

21 through 2017’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(8) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

25 may use amounts made available to carry out 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2166 IS

1 this section to provide technical assistance to 

2 nonprofit organizations that provide to small 

3 public water systems onsite technical assistance, 

4 circuit-rider technical assistance programs, on5 site and regional training, assistance with im6 plementing source water protection plans, and 

7 assistance with implementation monitoring 

8 plans, rules, regulations, and water security en9 hancements. 

10 ‘‘(B) PREFERENCE.—To ensure that tech11 nical assistance funding is used in a manner 

12 that is most beneficial to the small and rural 

13 communities of a State, the Administrator shall 

14 give preference under this paragraph to non15 profit organizations that, as determined by the 

16 Administrator, are the most qualified and expe17 rienced and that the small community water 

18 systems in that State find to be the most bene19 ficial and effective.’’. 

Æ 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS