II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2771 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to provide grants for 

the construction, refurbishing, and servicing of individual household decentralized wastewater systems to individuals with low or moderate income. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 26, 2018 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require 

the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to provide grants for the construction, refurbishing, 

and servicing of individual household decentralized wastewater systems to individuals with low or moderate income. 

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 ‘‘Residential Decentral5 ized Wastewater System Improvement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION, REFURBISHING, AND 

2 SERVICING OF INDIVIDUAL HOUSEHOLD DE3 CENTRALIZED WASTEWATER SYSTEMS FOR 

4 INDIVIDUALS WITH LOW OR MODERATE IN5 COME. 

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. 222. GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION, REFURBISHING, 

10 AND SERVICING OF INDIVIDUAL HOUSEHOLD 

11 DECENTRALIZED WASTEWATER SYSTEMS 

12 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH LOW OR MODERATE 

13 INCOME. 

14 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—In this 

15 section, the term ‘eligible individual’ means a member of 

16 a household, the members of which have a combined in17 come (for the most recent 12-month period for which in18 formation is available) equal to not more than 60 percent 

19 of the median nonmetropolitan household income for the 

20 State or territory in which the household is located, ac21 cording to the most recent decennial census. 

22 ‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall es24 tablish a program under which the Administrator 

25 shall provide grants to private nonprofit organizaVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:32 May 03, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2771.IS S2771

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1 tions for the purpose of providing subgrants to eligi2 ble individuals, in accordance with subsection (c). 

3 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

4 grant under this subsection, a private nonprofit or5 ganization shall submit to the Administrator an ap6 plication at such time, in such manner, and con7 taining such information as the Administrator deter8 mines to be appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

10 subsection, the Administrator shall give priority to 

11 applicants that have substantial expertise and expe12 rience in promoting the safe and effective use of in13 dividual household decentralized wastewater systems. 

14 ‘‘(4) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—A private 

15 nonprofit organization may use amounts provided 

16 under this subsection to pay the administrative ex17 penses associated with the provision of subgrants 

18 under subsection (c), as the Administrator deter19 mines to be appropriate. 

20 ‘‘(c) SUBGRANTS.— 

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

22 private nonprofit organization shall use a grant pro23 vided under subsection (b) to provide subgrants to 

24 eligible individuals for the construction, refurbishing, 


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1 and servicing of individual household decentralized 

2 wastewater systems. 

3 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC UTILITY CONNECTION AVAIL4 ABLE.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which 

6 an eligible individual who submits to a private 

7 nonprofit organization an application for a 

8 subgrant under this subsection resides in a 

9 household that could be connected to an avail10 able public wastewater utility, the private non11 profit organization shall conduct a cost analysis 

12 to determine whether establishing such a con13 nection would be a more cost-effective use of 

14 subgrant funds, as compared to the eligible uses 

15 described in paragraph (1). 

16 ‘‘(B) USE OF FUNDS.—If a cost analysis 

17 under subparagraph (A) demonstrates that the 

18 connection of the applicable household to a pub19 lic wastewater utility is more cost-effective than 

20 the eligible uses described in paragraph (1) 

21 with respect to the household, the eligible indi22 vidual may use a subgrant provided under this 

23 subsection to establish the connection. 

24 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

25 subgrant under this subsection, an eligible individual 


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1 shall submit to the private nonprofit organization 

2 serving the area in which the individual household 

3 decentralized wastewater system of the eligible indi4 viduals is, or is proposed to be, located an applica5 tion at such time, in such manner, and containing 

6 such information as the private nonprofit organiza7 tion determines to be appropriate. 

8 ‘‘(4) PRIORITY.—In awarding subgrants under 

9 this subsection, a private nonprofit organization 

10 shall give priority to any eligible individual who does 

11 not have access to a sanitary sewage disposal sys12 tem. 

13 ‘‘(5) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The amount of a 

14 subgrant provided under this subsection shall not ex15 ceed $20,000. 

16 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

17 of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall sub18 mit to Congress a report describing the results of the pro19 gram under this section with respect to the prevalence 

20 throughout the United States of low- and moderate-in21 come households without access to a sanitary sewage dis22 posal system. 


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1 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

3 such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.’’. 

Æ 


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