I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3533 

To reduce Federal, State, and local costs of providing high-quality drinking 

water to millions of people in the United States residing in rural communities by facilitating greater use of cost-effective alternative systems, 

including well water systems, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 

Mr. HANNA (for himself and Mr. COOPER) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition 

to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To reduce Federal, State, and local costs of providing highquality drinking water to millions of people in the United 

States residing in rural communities by facilitating greater use of cost-effective alternative systems, including well 

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 ‘‘Water System Cost 

5 Savings Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the United States is facing a drinking water 

4 infrastructure funding crisis; 

5 (2) the Environmental Protection Agency 

6 projects a shortfall of approximately 

7 $384,000,000,000 in funding for drinking water in8 frastructure from 2015 to 2035 and this funding 

9 challenge is particularly acute in rural communities 

10 in the United States; 

11 (3) there are approximately 52,000 community 

12 water systems in the United States, of which nearly 

13 42,000 are small community water systems; 

14 (4) the Drinking Water Needs Survey con15 ducted by the Environmental Protection Agency in 

16 2011 placed the shortfall in drinking water infra17 structure funding for small communities, which con18 sist of 3,300 or fewer persons, at $64,500,000,000; 

19 (5) small communities often cannot finance the 

20 construction and maintenance of drinking water sys21 tems because the cost per resident for the invest22 ment would be prohibitively expensive; 

23 (6) drought conditions have placed significant 

24 strains on existing surface water supplies; 


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1 (7) many communities across the United States 

2 are considering the use of groundwater and commu3 nity well systems to provide drinking water; and 

4 (8) approximately 42,000,000 people in the 

5 United States receive drinking water from individual 

6 wells and millions more rely on community well sys7 tems for drinking water. 

8 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

9 It is the sense of Congress that providing rural com10 munities with the knowledge and resources necessary to 

11 fully use alternative drinking water systems, including 

12 wells and community well systems, can provide safe and 

13 affordable drinking water to millions of people in the 

14 United States. 

15 SEC. 4. DRINKING WATER TECHNOLOGY CLEARINGHOUSE. 

16 The Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

17 Agency and the Secretary of Agriculture shall— 

18 (1) update existing programs of the Environ19 mental Protection Agency and the Department of 

20 Agriculture designed to provide drinking water tech21 nical assistance to include information on cost-effec22 tive, innovative, and alternative drinking water deliv23 ery systems, including systems that are supported by 

24 wells; and 


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1 (2) disseminate information on the cost effec2 tiveness of alternative drinking water delivery sys3 tems, including wells and well systems, to commu4 nities and not-for-profit organizations seeking Fed5 eral funding for drinking water systems serving 500 

6 or fewer persons. 

7 SEC. 5. WATER SYSTEM ASSESSMENT. 

8 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in any 

9 application for a grant or loan from the Federal Govern10 ment or a State that is using Federal assistance for a 

11 drinking water system serving 500 or fewer persons, a unit 

12 of local government or not-for-profit organization shall 

13 self-certify that the unit of local government or organiza14 tion has considered, as an alternative drinking water sup15 ply, drinking water delivery systems sourced by publicly 

16 owned— 

17 (1) individual wells; 

18 (2) shared wells; and 

19 (3) community wells. 

20 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

21 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 

22 of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro23 tection Agency and the Secretary of Agriculture shall pro24 vide to Congress a report that describes— 


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1 (1) the use of innovative and alternative drink2 ing water systems described in this Act; 

3 (2) the range of cost savings for communities 

4 using innovative and alternative drinking water sys5 tems described in this Act; and 

6 (3) the use of drinking water technical assist7 ance programs operated by the Administrator of the 

8 Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary 

9 of Agriculture. 

Æ 


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