II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1642 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 22, 2015 

Mr. BOOZMAN (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

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 Supply Cost 

5 Savings Act’’ or the ‘‘Savings Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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

2 infrastructure funding crisis; 

3 (2) the Environmental Protection Agency 

4 projects a shortfall of approximately 

5 $384,000,000,000 in funding for drinking water in6 frastructure from 2015 to 2035 and this funding 

7 challenge is particularly acute in rural communities 

8 in the United States; 

9 (3) there are approximately 52,000 community 

10 water systems in the United States, of which nearly 

11 42,000 are small community water systems; 

12 (4) the Drinking Water Needs Survey con13 ducted by the Environmental Protection Agency in 

14 2011 placed the shortfall in drinking water infra15 structure funding for small communities, which con16 sist of 3,300 or fewer persons, at $64,500,000,000; 

17 (5) small communities often cannot finance the 

18 construction and maintenance of drinking water sys19 tems because the cost per resident for the invest20 ment would be prohibitively expensive; 

21 (6) drought conditions have placed significant 

22 strains on existing surface water supplies; 

23 (7) many communities across the United States 

24 are considering the use of groundwater and commu25 nity well systems to provide drinking water; and 


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

2 United States receive drinking water from individual 

3 wells and millions more rely on community well sys4 tems for drinking water. 

5 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

6 It is the sense of Congress that providing rural com7 munities with the knowledge and resources necessary to 

8 fully use alternative drinking water systems, including 

9 wells and community well systems, can provide safe and 

10 affordable drinking water to millions of people in the 

11 United States. 

12 SEC. 4. DRINKING WATER TECHNOLOGY CLEARINGHOUSE. 

13 The Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

14 Agency and the Secretary of Agriculture shall— 

15 (1) update existing programs of the Environ16 mental Protection Agency and the Department of 

17 Agriculture designed to provide drinking water tech18 nical assistance to include information on cost-effec19 tive, innovative, and alternative drinking water deliv20 ery systems, including systems that are supported by 

21 wells; and 

22 (2) disseminate information on the cost effec23 tiveness of alternative drinking water delivery sys24 tems, including wells and well systems, to commu25 nities and not-for-profit organizations seeking FedVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 26, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1642.IS S1642

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1 eral funding for drinking water systems serving 500 

2 or fewer persons. 

3 SEC. 5. WATER SYSTEM ASSESSMENT. 

4 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in any 

5 application for a grant or loan from the Federal Govern6 ment or a State that is using Federal assistance for a 

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

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

9 self-certify that the unit of local government or organiza10 tion has considered, as an alternative drinking water sup11 ply, drinking water delivery systems sourced by publicly 

12 owned— 

13 (1) individual wells; 

14 (2) shared wells; and 

15 (3) community wells. 

16 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

17 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 

18 of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro19 tection Agency and the Secretary of Agriculture shall pro20 vide to Congress a report that describes— 

21 (1) the use of innovative and alternative drink22 ing water systems described in this Act; 

23 (2) the range of cost savings for communities 

24 using innovative and alternative drinking water sys25 tems described in this Act; and 


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1 (3) the use of drinking water technical assist2 ance programs operated by the Administrator of the 

3 Environmental Protection Agency and the Secretary 

4 of Agriculture. 

Æ 


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