II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 653 

To amend the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 to reauthorize grants 

for and require applied water supply research regarding the water resources research and technology institutes established under that Act. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 4, 2015 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 to 

reauthorize grants for and require applied water supply 

research regarding the water resources research and 

technology institutes established under that Act. 

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 Resources Re5 search Amendments Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH ACT AMENDMENTS. 

2 (a) CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARA3 TIONS.—Section 102 of the Water Resources Research 

4 Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10301) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through 

6 (9) as paragraphs (8) through (10), respectively; 

7 (2) in paragraph (8) (as so redesignated), by 

8 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

9 (3) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(7) additional research is required into in12 creasing the effectiveness and efficiency of new and 

13 existing treatment works through alternative ap14 proaches, including— 

15 ‘‘(A) nonstructural alternatives; 

16 ‘‘(B) decentralized approaches; 

17 ‘‘(C) energy use efficiency; 

18 ‘‘(D) water use efficiency; and 

19 ‘‘(E) actions to extract energy from waste20 water;’’. 

21 (b) CLARIFICATION OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES.—Sec22 tion 104(b)(1) of the Water Resources Research Act of 

23 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10303(b)(1)) is amended— 

24 (1) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘water25 related phenomena’’ and inserting ‘‘water re26 sources’’; and 


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1 (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period 

2 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’. 

3 (c) COMPLIANCE REPORT.—Section 104(c) of the 

4 Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 

5 10303(c)) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘(c) From the’’ and inserting 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(c) GRANTS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than December 31 of 

12 each fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit to the 

13 Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 

14 Senate, the Committee on the Budget of the Senate, 

15 the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

16 of the House of Representatives, and the Committee 

17 on the Budget of the House of Representatives a re18 port regarding the compliance of each funding re19 cipient with this subsection for the immediately pre20 ceding fiscal year.’’. 

21 (d) EVALUATION OF WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH

22 PROGRAM.—Section 104 of the Water Resources Research 

23 Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10303) is amended by striking 

24 subsection (e) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(e) EVALUATION OF WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH

2 PROGRAM.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall con4 duct a careful and detailed evaluation of each insti5 tute at least once every 3 years to determine— 

6 ‘‘(A) the quality and relevance of the water 

7 resources research of the institute; 

8 ‘‘(B) the effectiveness of the institute at 

9 producing measured results and applied water 

10 supply research; and 

11 ‘‘(C) whether the effectiveness of the insti12 tute as an institution for planning, conducting, 

13 and arranging for research warrants continued 

14 support under this section. 

15 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON FURTHER SUPPORT.—If, 

16 as a result of an evaluation under paragraph (1), the 

17 Secretary determines that an institute does not qual18 ify for further support under this section, no further 

19 grants to the institute may be provided until the 

20 qualifications of the institute are reestablished to the 

21 satisfaction of the Secretary.’’. 

22 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

23 104(f)(1) of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 

24 (42 U.S.C. 10303(f)(1)) is amended by striking 

25 ‘‘$12,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2011’’ 


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1 and inserting ‘‘$7,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2015 

2 through 2020’’. 

3 (f) ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS WHERE RE4 SEARCH FOCUSED ON WATER PROBLEMS OF INTERSTATE

5 NATURE.—Section 104(g)(1) of the Water Resources Re6 search Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10303(g)(1)) is amended 

7 in the first sentence by striking ‘‘$6,000,000 for each of 

8 fiscal years 2007 through 2011’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘$1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2020’’. 

Æ 


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