I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3727 

To enhance the ability of drinking water utilities in the United States to 

develop and implement climate change adaptation programs and policies, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 6, 2009 

Ms. DEGETTE (for herself, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. MATSUI, 

Mr. POLIS of Colorado, Ms. TITUS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, and Mr. 

PERLMUTTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To enhance the ability of drinking water utilities in the 

United States to develop and implement climate change 

adaptation programs and policies, 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 ‘‘Drinking Water Adap5 tation, Technology, Education, and Research (WATER) 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the consensus among climate scientists is 

4 overwhelming that climate change is occurring more 

5 rapidly than can be attributed to natural causes, and 

6 that significant impacts to the water supply are al7 ready occurring; 

8 (2) among the first and most critical of those 

9 impacts will be change to patterns of precipitation 

10 around the world, which will affect water availability 

11 for the most basic drinking water and domestic 

12 water needs of populations in many areas of the 

13 United States; 

14 (3) drinking water utilities throughout the 

15 United States, as well as those in Europe, Australia, 

16 and Asia, are concerned that extended changes in 

17 precipitation will lead to extended droughts; 

18 (4) supplying water is highly energy-intensive 

19 and will become more so as climate change forces 

20 more utilities to turn to alternative supplies; 

21 (5) energy production consumes a significant 

22 percentage of the fresh water resources of the 

23 United States; 

24 (6) since 2003, the drinking water industry of 

25 the United States has sponsored, through a non26 profit water research foundation, various studies to 


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1 assess the impacts of climate change on drinking 

2 water supplies; 

3 (7) those studies demonstrate the need for a 

4 comprehensive program of research into the full 

5 range of impacts on drinking water utilities, includ6 ing impacts on water supplies, facilities, and cus7 tomers; 

8 (8) that nonprofit water research foundation is 

9 also coordinating internationally with other drinking 

10 water utilities on shared research projects and has 

11 hosted international workshops with counterpart Eu12 ropean and Asian water research organizations to 

13 develop a unified research agenda for applied re14 search on adaptive strategies to address climate 

15 change impacts; 

16 (9) research data in existence as of the date of 

17 enactment of this Act— 

18 (A) summarize the best available scientific 

19 evidence on climate change; 

20 (B) identify the implications of climate 

21 change for the water cycle and the availability 

22 and quality of water resources; and 

23 (C) provide general guidance on planning 

24 and adaptation strategies for water utilities; 

25 and 


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1 (10) given uncertainties about specific climate 

2 changes in particular areas, drinking water utilities 

3 need to prepare for a wider range of likely possibili4 ties in managing and delivery of water. 

5 SEC. 3. RESEARCH ON THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE 

6 ON DRINKING WATER UTILITIES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Envi8 ronmental Protection Agency, in cooperation with the Sec9 retary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and the Sec10 retary of the Interior, shall establish and provide funding 

11 for a program of directed and applied research, to be con12 ducted through a nonprofit drinking water research foun13 dation and sponsored by water utilities, to assist the utili14 ties in adapting to the effects of climate change. 

15 (b) RESEARCH AREAS.—The research conducted in 

16 accordance with subsection (a) shall include research 

17 into— 

18 (1) water quality impacts and solutions, includ19 ing research— 

20 (A) to address probable impacts on raw 

21 water quality resulting from— 

22 (i) erosion and turbidity from extreme 

23 precipitation events; 

24 (ii) watershed vegetation changes; and 


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1 (iii) increasing ranges of pathogens, 

2 algae, and nuisance organisms resulting 

3 from warmer temperatures; and 

4 (B) on mitigating increasing damage to 

5 watersheds and water quality by evaluating ex6 treme events, such as wildfires and hurricanes, 

7 to learn and develop management approaches to 

8 mitigate— 

9 (i) permanent watershed damage; 

10 (ii) quality and yield impacts on 

11 source waters; and 

12 (iii) increased costs of water treat13 ment; 

14 (2) impacts on groundwater supplies from car15 bon sequestration, including research to evaluate po16 tential water quality consequences of carbon seques17 tration in various regional aquifers, soil conditions, 

18 and mineral deposits; 

19 (3) water quantity impacts and solutions, in20 cluding research— 

21 (A) to evaluate climate change impacts on 

22 water resources throughout hydrological basins 

23 of the United States; 

24 (B) to improve the accuracy and resolution 

25 of climate change models at a regional level; 


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1 (C) to identify and explore options for in2 creasing conjunctive use of aboveground and 

3 underground storage of water; and 

4 (D) to optimize operation of existing and 

5 new reservoirs in diminished and erratic periods 

6 of precipitation and runoff; 

7 (4) infrastructure impacts and solutions for 

8 water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities 

9 and underground pipelines, including research— 

10 (A) to evaluate and mitigate the impacts of 

11 sea level rise on— 

12 (i) near-shore facilities; 

13 (ii) soil drying and subsidence; 

14 (iii) reduced flows in water and waste15 water pipelines; and 

16 (iv) extreme flows in wastewater sys17 tems; and 

18 (B) on ways of increasing the resilience of 

19 existing infrastructure, planning cost-effective 

20 responses to adapt to climate change, and de21 veloping new design standards for future infra22 structure that include the use of energy con23 servation measures and renewable energy in 

24 new construction to the maximum extent prac25 ticable; 


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1 (5) desalination, water reuse, and alternative 

2 supply technologies, including research— 

3 (A) to improve and optimize existing mem4 brane technologies, and to identify and develop 

5 breakthrough technologies, to enable the use of 

6 seawater, brackish groundwater, treated waste7 water, and other impaired sources; 

8 (B) into new sources of water through 

9 more cost-effective water treatment practices in 

10 recycling and desalination; and 

11 (C) to improve technologies for use in— 

12 (i) managing and minimizing the vol13 ume of desalination and reuse concentrate 

14 streams; and 

15 (ii) minimizing the environmental im16 pacts of seawater intake at desalination fa17 cilities; 

18 (6) energy efficiency and greenhouse gas mini19 mization, including research— 

20 (A) on optimizing the energy efficiency of 

21 water supply and wastewater operations and 

22 improving water efficiency in energy production 

23 and management; and 


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1 (B) to identify and develop renewable, car2 bon-neutral energy options for the water supply 

3 and wastewater industry; 

4 (7) regional and hydrological basin cooperative 

5 water management solutions, including research 

6 into— 

7 (A) institutional mechanisms for greater 

8 regional cooperation and use of water ex9 changes, banking, and transfers; and 

10 (B) the economic benefits of sharing risks 

11 of shortage across wider areas; 

12 (8) utility management, decision support sys13 tems, and water management models, including re14 search— 

15 (A) into improved decision support systems 

16 and modeling tools for use by water utility 

17 managers to assist with increased water supply 

18 uncertainty and adaptation strategies posed by 

19 climate change; 

20 (B) to provide financial tools, including 

21 new rate structures, to manage financial re22 sources and investments, because increased con23 servation practices may diminish revenue and 

24 increase investments in infrastructure; and 


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1 (C) to develop improved systems and mod2 els for use in evaluating— 

3 (i) successful alternative methods for 

4 conservation and demand management; 

5 and 

6 (ii) climate change impacts on 

7 groundwater resources; 

8 (9) reducing greenhouse gas emissions and im9 proving energy demand management, including re10 search to improve energy efficiency in water collec11 tion, production, transmission, treatment, distribu12 tion, and disposal to provide more sustainability and 

13 means to assist drinking water utilities in reducing 

14 the production of greenhouse gas emissions in the 

15 collection, production, transmission, treatment, dis16 tribution, and disposal of drinking water; 

17 (10) water conservation and demand manage18 ment, including research— 

19 (A) to develop strategic approaches to 

20 water demand management that offer the low21 est-cost, noninfrastructural options to serve 

22 growing populations or manage declining sup23 plies, primarily through— 

24 (i) efficiencies in water use and re25 allocation of the saved water; 


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1 (ii) demand management tools; 

2 (iii) economic incentives; and 

3 (iv) water-saving technologies; and 

4 (B) into efficiencies in water management 

5 through integrated water resource management 

6 that incorporates— 

7 (i) supply-side and demand-side proc8 esses; 

9 (ii) continuous adaptive management; 

10 and 

11 (iii) the inclusion of stakeholders in 

12 decisionmaking processes; and 

13 (11) communications, education, and public ac14 ceptance, including research— 

15 (A) into improved strategies and ap16 proaches for communicating with customers, de17 cisionmakers, and other stakeholders about the 

18 implications of climate change on water supply 

19 and water management; 

20 (B) to develop effective communication ap21 proaches— 

22 (i) to gain public acceptance of alter23 native water supplies and new policies and 

24 practices, including conservation and de25 mand management; and 


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1 (ii) to gain public recognition and ac2 ceptance of increased costs; and 

3 (C) to create and maintain a clearinghouse 

4 of climate change information for water utili5 ties, academic researchers, stakeholders, gov6 ernment agencies, and research organizations. 

7 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

9 $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2020. 

Æ 


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