I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5856 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to establish a 
decentralized wastewater grant program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 11, 2020 
Ms. SEWELL of Alabama introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to estab-
lish a decentralized wastewater grant program, 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 ‘‘Decentralized Waste-
water Grant Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. DECENTRALIZED WASTEWATER GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Federal Water Pol-
lution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1281 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 222. GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION, REPAIR, OR RE-
PLACEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL HOUSEHOLD DE-
CENTRALIZED 
WASTEWATER 
TREATMENT 
SYSTEMS. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘eligible 
individual’ means a member of a household, the members 
of which have a combined income (for the most recent 12- 
month period for which information is available) equal to 
not more than 50 percent of the median nonmetropolitan 
household income for the State in which the household is 
located, according to the most recent decennial census. 
‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Administrator shall es-
tablish a program to provide a grant to a qualified non-
profit organization, as determined by the Administrator, 
to provide a subgrant to an eligible individual— 
‘‘(1) for the construction, repair, or replacement 
of an individual household decentralized wastewater 
treatment system; 
‘‘(2) if the eligible individual resides in a house-
hold that could be cost-effectively connected to an 
available publicly owned treatment works, for the 
connection of the household of the eligible individual 
to the publicly owned treatment works; or 
‘‘(3) for the installation of a larger decentral-
ized wastewater system designed to provide treat-
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ment for 2 or more households in which eligible indi-
viduals reside, if— 
‘‘(A) site conditions at the households are 
unsuitable for the installation of an individually 
owned decentralized wastewater system; 
‘‘(B) multiple examples of unsuitable site 
conditions exist in close geographic proximity to 
each other; and 
‘‘(C) a larger decentralized wastewater sys-
tem could be cost-effectively installed. 
‘‘(c) PRIORITY.—In awarding subgrants under this 
section, a qualified nonprofit organization that receives a 
grant under this section shall give priority to— 
‘‘(1) an eligible individual who does not have 
access to a functioning sanitary sewage disposal sys-
tem; and 
‘‘(2) a group of eligible individuals that do not 
have access to a functioning sanitary sewage dis-
posal system. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, a qualified nonprofit organization shall 
submit to the Administrator an application at such time, 
in such manner, and containing such information as the 
Administrator may require. 
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‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 
such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.’’. 
(b) WATER POLLUTION CONTROL REVOLVING LOAN 
FUNDS.—Section 603 of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in paragraph (10), by adding ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(B) in paragraph (11)(B), by striking ‘‘; 
and’’ at the end and inserting a period; and 
(C) by striking paragraph (12); and 
(2) by striking subsection (j). 
(c) NO REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section 4107 of 
the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (Public 
Law 115–270; 132 Stat. 3877) is amended by striking 
subsection (b). 
Æ 
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