I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5659 

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

water to millions of Americans residing in rural communities by facilitating greater use of cost-effective well water systems, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Mr. STUTZMAN 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 Americans residing 

in rural communities by facilitating greater use of costeffective 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’’. 


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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; the Environmental 

5 Protection Agency (the ‘‘EPA’’) projects a $384 bil6 lion shortfall in funding over the next 20 years; and 

7 this funding challenge is particularly acute in rural 

8 America; 

9 (2) there are 52,000 community water systems 

10 in the United States, of which 41,801 are small 

11 community water systems; 

12 (3) EPA’s most recent Drinking Water Needs 

13 Survey placed the shortfall in drinking water infra14 structure funding for small communities (3,300 or 

15 fewer persons) at $64.5 billion; 

16 (4) small communities often cannot finance the 

17 construction and maintenance of drinking water sys18 tems because the cost per resident for this invest19 ment would be prohibitively expensive; 

20 (5) drought conditions have placed significant 

21 strains on existing surface water supplies, and many 

22 communities across the country are now considering 

23 the use of groundwater and community well systems 

24 to provide drinking water; and 

25 (6) 42 million Americans receive their drinking 

26 water from individual wells, and millions more rely 


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1 upon community well systems for their drinking 

2 water. 

3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

5 (1) providing rural communities with the knowl6 edge and resources necessary to fully utilize wells 

7 and community well systems can save local, State, 

8 and Federal governments and taxpayers billions of 

9 dollars over the next two decades; 

10 (2) wells and community well systems can pro11 vide safe and affordable drinking water to millions 

12 of Americans; and 

13 (3) the Federal Government lacks the resources 

14 to finance the drinking water infrastructure needs of 

15 millions of citizens residing in rural America, and 

16 wells and community well systems can help signifi17 cantly to close this funding gap. 

18 SEC. 4. DRINKING WATER TECHNOLOGY CLEARINGHOUSE. 

19 The Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

20 Agency and the Secretary of Agriculture shall— 

21 (1) update existing programs of the Agency and 

22 the Department of Agriculture designed to provide 

23 drinking water technical assistance to include infor24 mation on cost-effective, innovative, and alternative 


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1 drinking water delivery systems, including systems 

2 that are supported by wells; and 

3 (2) disseminate information on the cost effec4 tiveness of wells and well systems to communities 

5 and not-for-profit organizations seeking Federal 

6 funding for drinking water systems serving 3,300 or 

7 fewer persons. 

8 SEC. 5. WATER SYSTEM ASSESSMENT. 

9 In any application for a Federal grant or loan for 

10 a drinking water system serving 3,300 or fewer persons, 

11 a unit of local government or not-for-profit organization 

12 shall certify that it has considered, as an alternative drink13 ing water supply, drinking water delivery systems sourced 

14 by publicly owned individual wells, shared wells, and com15 munity 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 re20 port to Congress on— 

21 (1) the utilization of innovative and alternative 

22 drinking water systems described in this Act; 

23 (2) the range of cost savings for communities 

24 utilizing innovative and alternative drinking water 

25 systems described in this Act; and 


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1 (3) the utilization of drinking water technical 

2 assistance programs operated by the Agency and the 

3 Department. 

Æ 


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