II 

Calendar No. 340 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 864 

[Report No. 113–142] 

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 

MAY 6, 2013 

Mr. WICKER (for himself, Ms. HEITKAMP, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. UDALL of New 

Mexico, Mr. CRAPO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. RISCH, Mr. JOHNSON of 

South Dakota, Mr. MORAN, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. TESTER, 

Mr. INHOFE, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. VITTER, Mr. LEVIN, and 

Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

APRIL 1, 2014 

Reported by Mrs. BOXER, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

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, 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

2 

•S 864 RS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grassroots Rural and 

3 Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments 

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

8 assistance for small and rural communities to assist 

9 those communities in complying with regulations 

10 promulgated pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water 

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

12 (2) technical assistance and compliance train13 ing— 

14 (A) ensures that Federal regulations do 

15 not overwhelm the resources of small and rural 

16 communities; and 

17 (B) provides small and rural communities 

18 lacking technical resources with the necessary 

19 skills to improve and protect water resources; 

20 (3) across the United States, more than 90 per21 cent of the community water systems serve a popu22 lation of less than 10,000 individuals; 

23 (4) small and rural communities have the great24 est difficulty providing safe, affordable public drink25 ing water and wastewater services due to limited 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

3 

•S 864 RS

1 economies of scale and lack of technical expertise; 

2 and 

3 (5) in addition to being the main source of com4 pliance assistance, small and rural water technical 

5 assistance has been the main source of emergency 

6 response assistance in small and rural communities. 

7 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that— 

9 (1) to most effectively assist small and rural 

10 communities, the Environmental Protection Agency 

11 should prioritize the types of technical assistance 

12 that are most beneficial to those communities, based 

13 on input from those communities; and 

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

15 assistance initiatives work in small and rural com16 munities to the maximum benefit. 

17 SEC. 4. FUNDING PRIORITIES. 

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

19 U.S.C. 300j–1(e)) is amended— 

20 (1) by designating the first through seventh 

21 sentences as paragraphs (1) through (7), respec22 tively; 

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

24 striking ‘‘1997 through 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2014 

25 through 2019’’; and 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

4 

•S 864 RS

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

2 ‘‘(8) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.— 

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

4 may use amounts made available to carry out 

5 this section to provide technical assistance to 

6 nonprofit organizations that provide to small 

7 public water systems onsite technical assistance, 

8 circuit-rider technical assistance programs, on9 site and regional training, assistance with im10 plementing source water protection plans, and 

11 assistance with implementation monitoring 

12 plans, rules, regulations, and water security en13 hancements. 

14 ‘‘(B) PREFERENCE.—To ensure that tech15 nical assistance funding is used in a manner 

16 that is most beneficial to the small and rural 

17 communities of a State, the Administrator shall 

18 give preference under this paragraph to non19 profit organizations that, as determined by the 

20 Administrator, are the most qualified and expe21 rienced and that the small community water 

22 systems in that State find to be the most bene23 ficial and effective.’’. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

5 

•S 864 RS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grassroots Rural and 

3 Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 

7 1996 (Public Law 104–182) authorized technical as8 sistance for small and rural communities to assist 

9 those communities in complying with regulations pro10 mulgated pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act 

11 (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 

12 (2) technical assistance and compliance train13 ing— 

14 (A) ensures that Federal regulations do not 

15 overwhelm the resources of small and rural com16 munities; and 

17 (B) provides small and rural communities 

18 lacking technical resources with the necessary 

19 skills to improve and protect water resources; 

20 (3) across the United States, more than 90 per21 cent of the community water systems serve a popu22 lation of less than 10,000 individuals; 

23 (4) small and rural communities have the great24 est difficulty providing safe, affordable public drink25 ing water and wastewater services due to limited 

26 economies of scale and lack of technical expertise; and 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

6 

•S 864 RS

1 (5) in addition to being the main source of com2 pliance assistance, small and rural water technical 

3 assistance has been the main source of emergency re4 sponse assistance in small and rural communities. 

5 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

6 It is the sense of Congress that— 

7 (1) to most effectively assist small and rural 

8 communities, the Environmental Protection Agency 

9 should prioritize the types of technical assistance that 

10 are most beneficial to those communities, based on 

11 input from those communities; and 

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

13 assistance initiatives work in small and rural com14 munities to the maximum benefit. 

15 SEC. 4. FUNDING PRIORITIES. 

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

17 U.S.C. 300j–1(e)) is amended— 

18 (1) by designating the first through seventh sen19 tences as paragraphs (1) through (7), respectively; 

20 (2) in paragraph (5) (as so designated), by strik21 ing ‘‘1997 through 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2014 

22 through 2019’’; and 

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

24 ‘‘(8) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.— 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

7 

•S 864 RS

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

2 may use amounts made available to carry out 

3 this section to provide grants or cooperative 

4 agreements to nonprofit organizations that pro5 vide to small public water systems onsite tech6 nical assistance, circuit-rider technical assist7 ance programs, multistate, regional technical as8 sistance programs, onsite and regional training, 

9 assistance with implementing source water pro10 tection plans, and assistance with implementing 

11 monitoring plans, rules, regulations, and water 

12 security enhancements. 

13 ‘‘(B) PREFERENCE.—To ensure that tech14 nical assistance funding is used in a manner 

15 that is most beneficial to the small and rural 

16 communities of a State, the Administrator shall 

17 give preference under this paragraph to non18 profit organizations that, as determined by the 

19 Administrator, are the most qualified and expe20 rienced in providing training and technical as21 sistance to small public water systems and that 

22 the small community water systems in that State 

23 find to be the most beneficial and effective. 

24 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—No grant or cooperative 

25 agreement provided or otherwise made available 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

8 

•S 864 RS

1 under this section may be used for litigation 

2 pursuant to section 1449.’’. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

Calendar No. 340 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 864 

[Report No. 113–142] 

A BILL 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reausystems, and for other purposes. thorize technical assistance to small public water 

APRIL 1, 2014 

Reported with an amendment 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS