II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3207

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize

the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to nonprofit organizations

to finance the construction, refurbishing, and servicing of individuallyowned household water well systems in rural areas for individuals with

low or moderate incomes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 13 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. SANTORUM introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development

Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make

grants to nonprofit organizations to finance the construction, refurbishing, and servicing of individually-owned

household water well systems in rural areas for individuals with low or moderate incomes.

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 ‘‘Affordable Drinking

5 Water Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds that—

3 (1) affordable access to safe, reliable drinking

4 water is in the public interest;

5 (2) approximately 15,000,000 households in the

6 United States receive drinking water from household

7 water well systems;

8 (3) according to a national survey, more than

9 80 percent of those well owners express a preference

10 for water from their household water well system

11 over water from a community drinking water system

12 or bottled water;

13 (4) many consumers and farms in the United

14 States receive drinking water from older household

15 water well systems that are not constructed to cur16 rent standards;

17 (5) those systems should be upgraded to ensure

18 consumer and farm access to the safest and most re19 liable sources of drinking water;

20 (6) the Department of Agriculture, including

21 the Rural Utilities Service, has no program focused

22 on funding the construction, refurbishment, or serv23 icing of individually-owned household water well sys24 tems; and
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1 (7) centralized water systems are not always

2 the most cost-efficient way to deliver safe, reliable

3 drinking water to rural customers.

4 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO FI5 NANCE THE CONSTRUCTION, REFURBISHING,

6 AND SERVICING OF INDIVIDUALLY-OWNED

7 HOUSEHOLD WATER WELL SYSTEMS IN

8 RURAL AREAS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH LOW

9 OR MODERATE INCOMES.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of the Consolidated

11 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1922 et seq.)

12 is amended by inserting after section 306D (7 U.S.C.

13 1926d) the following:

14 ‘‘SEC. 306E. GRANTS TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO FI15 NANCE THE CONSTRUCTION, REFURBISHING,

16 AND SERVICING OF INDIVIDUALLY-OWNED

17 HOUSEHOLD WATER WELL SYSTEMS IN

18 RURAL AREAS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH LOW

19 OR MODERATE INCOMES.

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

21 section, the term ‘eligible individual’ means an individual

22 who is a member of a household, the combined income of

23 whose members for the most recent 12-month period for

24 which the information is available, is not more than 100

25 percent of the median nonmetropolitan household income
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1 for the State or territory in which the individual resides,

2 according to the most recent decennial census of the

3 United States.

4 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—The Secretary may make grants to

5 private nonprofit organizations for the purpose of assist6 ing eligible individuals in obtaining financing for the con7 struction, refurbishing, and servicing of individual house8 hold water well systems in rural areas that are owned (or

9 to be owned) by the eligible individuals.

10 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant made under this sec11 tion may be—

12 ‘‘(1) used, or invested to provide income to be

13 used, to carry out subsection (b); and

14 ‘‘(2) used to pay administrative expenses associ15 ated with providing the assistance described in sub16 section (b).

17 ‘‘(d) PRIORITY IN AWARDING GRANTS.—In awarding

18 grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority

19 to an applicant that has substantial expertise and experi20 ence in promoting the safe and productive use of individ21 ually-owned household water well systems and ground

22 water.’’.

23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

24 this section takes effect on October 1, 2001.

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