I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3292 
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
carry out a residential emergency relief program to provide payment 
assistance for households to retain water service, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 18, 2021 
Mrs. DINGELL (for herself, Ms. TLAIB, and Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency to carry out a residential emergency relief 
program to provide payment assistance for households 
to retain water service, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Debt Relief Act 
of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM. 
Part F of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 
300j–21 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘SEC. 1466. EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM.—The Adminis-
trator shall establish and carry out a residential emer-
gency relief program to provide payments to public water 
systems to reimburse such public water systems for pro-
viding forgiveness of arrearages and fees incurred by eligi-
ble residential customers before the date of enactment of 
this section to help such eligible residential customers re-
tain water service. 
‘‘(b) CONDITIONS.—To receive funds under this sec-
tion, a public water system shall agree to— 
‘‘(1) except as provided in paragraph (2), use 
such funds to forgive all arrearages and fees relating 
to nonpayment or arrearages incurred by eligible 
residential customers before the date of enactment 
of this section; 
‘‘(2) if forgiveness of all arrearages and fees de-
scribed in paragraph (1) is not possible given the 
amount of funds received, use such funds to reduce 
such arrearages and fees for each eligible residential 
customer by, to the extent practicable, a consistent 
percentage; 
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‘‘(3) take no action that negatively affects the 
credit score of an eligible residential customer, or 
pursue any type of collection action against such eli-
gible residential customer, during the 5-year period 
that begins on the date on which the public water 
system receives such funds; and 
‘‘(4) not disconnect or interrupt the service of 
any eligible residential customer as a result of non-
payment or arrearages during such 5-year period. 
‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE CUSTOMERS.—To be eligible for for-
giveness or reduction of arrearages and fees pursuant to 
the program established under subsection (a), a residential 
customer of a public water system shall have accrued new 
arrearages on or after March 1, 2020. 
‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The Adminis-
trator may authorize— 
‘‘(1) States to implement the program estab-
lished under subsection (a); and 
‘‘(2) a State implementing such program to use 
up to 4 percent of funds made available to carry out 
such program in such State for administrative ex-
penses. 
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‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$4,000,000,000, to remain available until expended.’’. 
Æ 
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