I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5016 

To increase efficiency and conservation in public water systems, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Mr. LEVIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To increase efficiency and conservation in public 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 Efficiency, Con5 servation, and Sustainability Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis9 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ10 mental Protection Agency. 


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1 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti2 ty’’ means any of the following: 

3 (A) A State, local, or Tribal government, 

4 or any special-purpose unit of such a govern5 ment (including a municipal water authority). 

6 (B) A public water system. 

7 (C) A nonprofit organization. 

8 (3) ENERGY STAR PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘En9 ergy Star program’’ means the Energy Star program 

10 established by section 324A of the Energy Policy 

11 and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6294a). 

12 (4) LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLD.—The term 

13 ‘‘low-income household’’ means a household that 

14 meets the income qualifications established under— 

15 (A) section 2605(b)(2) of the Low-Income 

16 Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (42 

17 U.S.C. 8624(b)(2)); or 

18 (B) the Low-Income Household Drinking 

19 Water and Wastewater Emergency Assistance 

20 Program authorized by section 533 of division 

21 H of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 

22 (Public Law 116–260; 134 Stat. 1627). 

23 (5) PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘public 

24 water system’’ has the meaning given the term in 


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1 section 1401 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 

2 U.S.C. 300f). 

3 (6) WATER EFFICIENCY INCENTIVE PRO4 GRAM.—The term ‘‘water efficiency incentive pro5 gram’’ means a program for providing incentives, in6 cluding direct installation services, to residential, 

7 commercial, or industrial customers of a public 

8 water system for the purchase, lease, installation, 

9 use, or implementation, as applicable, of water-effi10 cient upgrades. 

11 (7) WATER-EFFICIENT UPGRADE.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘water-effi13 cient upgrade’’ means a product, landscape, 

14 label, process, or service for a residential, com15 mercial, or industrial building, or the landscape 

16 of such a building, that is— 

17 (i) rated for water efficiency and per18 formance under the WaterSense program 

19 or the Energy Star program; or 

20 (ii) otherwise determined by the Ad21 ministrator to improve water-use efficiency. 

22 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘water-effi23 cient upgrade’’ includes— 

24 (i) a faucet; 

25 (ii) a showerhead; 


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1 (iii) a dishwasher; 

2 (iv) a toilet; 

3 (v) a clothes washer; 

4 (vi) an irrigation product or service; 

5 (vii) advanced metering infrastruc6 ture; 

7 (viii) a flow monitoring device; 

8 (ix) a landscaping or gardening prod9 uct, including moisture control or water10 enhancing technology; 

11 (x) xeriscaping, turf removal, or an12 other landscape conversion that reduces 

13 water use (except for the installation of ar14 tificial turf); and 

15 (xi) any other product, landscape, 

16 process, or service— 

17 (I) certified pursuant to the 

18 WaterSense program; or 

19 (II) otherwise determined by the 

20 Administrator to reduce water use or 

21 water loss, including products rated 

22 for water efficiency and performance 

23 under the Energy Star program. 

24 (8) WATER LOSS CONTROL PROGRAM.—The 

25 term ‘‘water loss control program’’ means a program 


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1 to identify and quantify water uses and losses, im2 plement controls to reduce or eliminate losses and 

3 leaks, and evaluate the effectiveness of such controls. 

4 (9) WATERSENSE PROGRAM.—The term 

5 ‘‘WaterSense program’’ means the program estab6 lished by section 324B of the Energy Policy and 

7 Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6294b). 

8 SEC. 3. WATER EFFICIENCY AND CONSERVATION GRANT 

9 PROGRAM. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall establish 

11 a program to award grants to eligible entities that have 

12 established water efficiency incentive programs to carry 

13 out those water efficiency incentive programs (referred to 

14 in this section as the ‘‘grant program’’). 

15 (b) DISTRIBUTION.—In carrying out the grant pro16 gram, the Administrator shall award not less than 50 per17 cent of the amounts made available to carry out this sec18 tion in each fiscal year to eligible entities that service an 

19 area that— 

20 (1) has been designated as D2 (severe drought) 

21 or greater according to the United States Drought 

22 Monitor for a minimum of 4 weeks during any of the 

23 3 years preceding the date of the grant award; or 

24 (2) is within a county for which a drought 

25 emergency has been declared by the applicable GovVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:47 Aug 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5016.IH H5016

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1 ernor at any time during the 3-year period preceding 

2 the date of the grant award. 

3 (c) GRANT AMOUNT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

5 grant awarded under the grant program shall be in 

6 an amount that is not less than $250,000. 

7 (2) SMALL PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS.—The Ad8 ministrator may award a grant in an amount that 

9 is less than $250,000 if the grant is awarded to, or 

10 for the benefit of, a public water system that serves 

11 fewer than 10,000 customers. 

12 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiving a 

13 grant under the grant program shall— 

14 (1) use grant funds to carry out a water effi15 ciency incentive program for customers of a public 

16 water system; or 

17 (2) provide grant funds to another eligible enti18 ty to carry out a water efficiency incentive program 

19 described in paragraph (1). 

20 (e) MINIMUM REQUIREMENT.—An eligible entity re21 ceiving a grant under the grant program shall use not less 

22 than 40 percent of the amount of the grant to provide 

23 water-efficient upgrades to low-income households. 

24 (f) COST SHARE.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

2 the Federal share of the cost of carrying out a water 

3 efficiency incentive program using a grant awarded 

4 under the grant program shall not exceed 80 per5 cent. 

6 (2) WAIVER.—The Administrator may increase 

7 the Federal share under paragraph (1) to 100 per8 cent if the Administrator determines that an eligible 

9 entity is unable to pay, or would experience signifi10 cant financial hardship if required to pay, the non11 Federal share. 

12 (g) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts pro13 vided under a grant under the grant program shall be used 

14 to supplement, and not supplant, other Federal, State, 

15 local, or Tribal funds made available to carry out water 

16 efficiency incentive programs. 

17 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

19 appropriated to carry out this section $50,000,000 

20 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028. 

21 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Of the amounts 

22 made available under paragraph (1) each fiscal year, 

23 the Administrator may use not more than 4 percent 

24 to pay the administrative costs of the Administrator. 


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1 SEC. 4. SUSTAINABLE WATER LOSS CONTROL PROGRAM. 

2 (a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND GRANT PRO3 GRAM.—The Administrator shall establish and carry out 

4 a program (referred to in this section as the ‘‘pro5 gram’’)— 

6 (1) to make grants and provide technical assist7 ance to eligible entities to perform annual audits of 

8 public water systems that are— 

9 (A) conducted in accordance with the pro10 cedures contained in the manual published by 

11 the American Water Works Association entitled 

12 ‘‘M36 Water Audits and Loss Control Pro13 grams, Fourth Edition’’ (or any successor man14 ual determined appropriate by the Adminis15 trator); and 

16 (B) validated under such criteria as may 

17 be specified by the Administrator; and 

18 (2) to make grants and provide technical assist19 ance to eligible entities— 

20 (A) to implement controls to address real 

21 water losses, apparent water losses, or a com22 bination of real and apparent water losses that 

23 are identified in an audit conducted and vali24 dated in accordance with the procedures and 

25 criteria described in paragraph (1); and 


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1 (B) to help public water systems that have 

2 conducted and validated such an audit establish 

3 water loss control programs. 

4 (b) CRITERIA.—In selecting eligible entities to receive 

5 grants and technical assistance under the program, the 

6 Administrator shall consider— 

7 (1) whether the public water system that would 

8 be served by the grants or technical assistance 

9 serves a disadvantaged community (as defined in 

10 section 1452(d)(3) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 

11 (42 U.S.C. 300j–12(d)(3))); and 

12 (2) the ability of the public water system that 

13 would be served by the grants or technical assist14 ance, on completion of an audit conducted and vali15 dated in accordance with the procedures and criteria 

16 described in subsection (a)(1)— 

17 (A) to successfully sustain a water loss 

18 control program; and 

19 (B) to demonstrate that the water loss 

20 control program will reduce real water losses, 

21 apparent water losses, or a combination of real 

22 and apparent water losses from the public 

23 water system. 

24 (c) ANNUAL WATER SAVINGS.—The Administrator 

25 shall— 


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1 (1) annually compile, by Environmental Protec2 tion Agency region, information on the amount of 

3 water savings achieved pursuant to this section; and 

4 (2) publish on the website of the Administrator 

5 the information compiled under paragraph (1). 

6 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

8 appropriated to carry out this section $40,000,000 

9 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028, of 

10 which— 

11 (A) $20,000,000 each fiscal year shall be 

12 used to carry out subsection (a)(1); and 

13 (B) $20,000,000 each fiscal year shall be 

14 used to carry out subsection (a)(2). 

15 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Of the amounts 

16 made available under paragraph (1) for grants 

17 under the program each fiscal year, the Adminis18 trator may use not more than 4 percent to pay the 

19 administrative costs of making such grants. 

20 SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE FOR WATER EFFICIENT PLUMBING 

21 CODE ADOPTION. 

22 (a) WATER EFFICIENT PLUMBING CODES.—The Ad23 ministrator shall establish a program to make grants to 

24 States, Tribal governments, and units of local government 

25 that have authority to adopt plumbing codes— 


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1 (1) to adopt plumbing codes that meet or ex2 ceed— 

3 (A) the latest American National Standard 

4 published as the ‘‘Water Efficiency and Sanita5 tion Standard for the Built Environment’’ or 

6 ‘‘WE–Stand’’ (or any successor American Na7 tional Standard); or 

8 (B) the requirements described in Chapter 

9 6 (Water Use Efficiency) of the code published 

10 by the International Code Council entitled 

11 ‘‘2018 International Green Construction Code 

12 (IGCC)’’ (or any successor requirements de13 scribed in a code published by the International 

14 Code Council); and 

15 (2) to implement a plan for the jurisdiction to 

16 achieve, within 5 years of the date on which the ju17 risdiction receives the grant, compliance with a 

18 plumbing code described in paragraph (1) in at least 

19 90 percent of new and renovated residential, com20 mercial, and industrial buildings, as applicable, 

21 which shall include— 

22 (A) workforce training; 

23 (B) an enforcement program; and 

24 (C) a compliance measurement program. 


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1 (b) SUBGRANT AUTHORITY.—A State that has adopt2 ed a plumbing code described in subsection (a)(1) may use 

3 funds from a grant under this section to make subgrants 

4 to relevant Tribal or local agencies to implement the 

5 plumbing code through 1 or more of the following: 

6 (1) Workforce training. 

7 (2) An enforcement program. 

8 (3) A compliance measurement program. 

9 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

11 appropriated to carry out this section $20,000,000 

12 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028. 

13 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Of the amounts 

14 made available under paragraph (1) for grants 

15 under this section each fiscal year, the Adminis16 trator may use not more than 4 percent to pay the 

17 administrative costs of the Administrator. 

Æ 


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