I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7069 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to assess and report on the water scarcity 

evaluation practices of the Department of Defense, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2020 

Mr. CROW (for himself, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, and Mr. LAMBORN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense to assess and report 

on the water scarcity evaluation practices of the Department of Defense, 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 ‘‘DOD Water Assess5 ment and Testing Enhanced Reporting Act of 2020’’ or 

6 the ‘‘WATER Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WATER SCARCITY EVAL2 UATION PRACTICES. 

3 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, 

5 in coordination with the Secretaries of the military depart6 ments, shall submit to Congress a report on the water 

7 scarcity evaluation practices used by the Department with 

8 respect to defense installations. Such a report shall in9 clude— 

10 (1) an analysis and determination of the value 

11 of developing a coordinated, enterprise-wide water 

12 scarcity assessment using leading practices com13 pared to continuing individual service-level assess14 ments; 

15 (2) a justification for the assessment technique 

16 determined preferable under paragraph (1); and 

17 (3) a proposed policy with respect to the water 

18 scarcity evaluation practices of the Department. 

19 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF RECURRING ASSESSMENT.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Based on the results of the 

21 report required under subsection (a), the Secretary 

22 of Defense, in coordination with the Secretaries of 

23 the military departments, shall develop and imple24 ment a recurring water scarcity assessment at de25 fense installations. 


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1 (2) FREQUENCY.—The recurring water scarcity 

2 assessment required under paragraph (1) shall be 

3 conducted not less frequently than once every 10 

4 years. 

5 (3) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.—The Sec6 retary shall consult with all relevant entities, includ7 ing as necessary adjacent communities, Tribes, and 

8 agricultural enterprises, as well as other Federal 

9 land managers, to understand the full scope of how 

10 water scarcity may impact an installation. 

11 (4) REPORT.—The Secretary of Defense shall 

12 submit to the congressional defense committees a re13 port on the findings of each water scarcity assess14 ment conducted under this subsection. Such report 

15 shall include— 

16 (A) an identification of the availability of 

17 water, as of the date of the submittal of the re18 port; 

19 (B) an identification of projected future 

20 water availability; 

21 (C) an account of all sources of water; 

22 (D) the precise locations of all water iden23 tified; and 

24 (E) a comprehensive list of all locations. 

Æ 


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