I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3291 
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide assistance for States, 
territories, areas affected by natural disasters, and water systems and 
schools affected by PFAS or lead, and to require the Environmental 
Protection Agency to promulgate national primary drinking water regula-
tions for PFAS, microcystin toxin, and 1,4–dioxane, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 18, 2021 
Mr. TONKO (for himself and Mr. PALLONE) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide assistance 
for States, territories, areas affected by natural disasters, 
and water systems and schools affected by PFAS or 
lead, and to require the Environmental Protection Agen-
cy to promulgate national primary drinking water regula-
tions for PFAS, microcystin toxin, and 1,4–dioxane, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Assistance, Quality, and Affordability Act of 2021’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—INFRASTRUCTURE 
Sec. 101. Drinking water system resilience funding. 
Sec. 102. Grants for State programs. 
Sec. 103. American iron and steel products. 
Sec. 104. Allotments for territories. 
Sec. 105. Drinking water SRF funding. 
Sec. 106. Lead service line replacement. 
Sec. 107. PFAS treatment grants. 
Sec. 108. Voluntary school and child care program lead testing grant program. 
Sec. 109. Drinking water fountain replacement for schools. 
Sec. 110. Indian reservation drinking water program. 
Sec. 111. Assistance for areas affected by natural disasters. 
TITLE II—SAFETY 
Sec. 201. Enabling EPA to set standards for new drinking water contaminants. 
Sec. 202. National primary drinking water regulations for PFAS. 
Sec. 203. National primary drinking water regulations for microcystin toxin. 
Sec. 204. National primary drinking water regulations for 1,4–dioxane. 
Sec. 205. Elimination of small system variances. 
TITLE III—AFFORDABILITY 
Sec. 301. Emergency relief program. 
TITLE I—INFRASTRUCTURE 
SEC. 101. DRINKING WATER SYSTEM RESILIENCE FUNDING. 
Section 1433(g)(6) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 
(42 U.S.C. 300i–2(g)(6)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘25,000,000’’ and inserting 
‘‘50,000,000’’; and 
(2) by striking ‘‘2020 and 2021’’ and inserting 
‘‘2022 through 2031’’. 
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to territories described in subsection (j) in ac-
cordance with such subsection. 
‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—Each State that has entered 
into a capitalization agreement pursuant to this sec-
tion shall annually prepare a plan that identifies the 
intended uses of the amounts made available pursu-
ant to this subsection, which shall— 
‘‘(A) comply with the requirements of sub-
section (b)(2); and 
‘‘(B) provide, to the maximum extent prac-
ticable, that priority for the use of funds be 
given to projects that replace lead service lines 
serving disadvantaged communities and envi-
ronmental justice communities. 
‘‘(4) AMERICAN MADE IRON AND STEEL AND 
PREVAILING
WAGES.—The requirements of para-
graphs (4) and (5) of subsection (a) shall apply to 
any project carried out in whole or in part with 
funds made available under this subsection. 
‘‘(5) LIMITATION.— 
‘‘(A) PROHIBITION ON PARTIAL LINE RE-
PLACEMENT.—None of the funds made avail-
able under this subsection may be used for par-
tial lead service line replacement if, at the con-
clusion of the service line replacement, drinking 
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water is delivered through a publicly or pri-
vately owned portion of a lead service line. 
‘‘(B) NO
PRIVATE
OWNER
CONTRIBU-
TION.—Any recipient of funds made available 
under this subsection shall offer to replace any 
privately owned portion of the lead service line 
at no cost to the private owner. 
‘‘(6) STATE CONTRIBUTION.—Notwithstanding 
subsection (e), agreements under paragraph (1) shall 
not require that the State deposit in the State loan 
fund from State moneys any contribution before re-
ceiving funds pursuant to this subsection. 
‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized 
to be appropriated to carry out this subsection 
$4,500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 
through 2031. Such sums shall remain available 
until expended. 
‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS.—To the ex-
tent amounts authorized to be appropriated 
under this subsection in any fiscal year are not 
appropriated in that fiscal year, such amounts 
are authorized to be appropriated in a subse-
quent fiscal year. Such sums shall remain avail-
able until expended. 
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‘‘(8) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section: 
‘‘(A) DISADVANTAGED
COMMUNITY.—The 
term ‘disadvantaged community’ has the mean-
ing given such term in subsection (d)(3). 
‘‘(B) ENVIRONMENTAL
JUSTICE
COMMU-
NITY.—The term ‘environmental justice com-
munity’ means any population of color, commu-
nity of color, indigenous community, or low-in-
come community that experiences a dispropor-
tionate burden of the negative human health 
and environmental impacts of pollution or other 
environmental hazards. 
‘‘(C) LEAD
SERVICE
LINE.—The term 
‘lead service line’ means a pipe and its fittings, 
which are not lead free (as defined in section 
1417(d)), that connect the drinking water main 
to the building inlet.’’. 
(b) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
1452(m)(1) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 
300j–12(m)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘(a)(2)(G) and 
(t)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a)(2)(G), (t), and (u)’’. 
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SEC. 107. PFAS TREATMENT GRANTS. 
Part E of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 
300j et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘SEC. 1459E. ASSISTANCE FOR COMMUNITY WATER SYS-
TEMS AFFECTED BY PFAS. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis-
trator shall establish a program to award grants to af-
fected community water systems to pay for capital costs 
associated with the implementation of eligible treatment 
technologies. 
‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 12 months 
after the date of enactment of this section, the Ad-
ministrator shall publish guidance describing the 
form and timing for community water systems to 
apply for grants under this section. 
‘‘(2) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—The Adminis-
trator shall require a community water system ap-
plying for a grant under this section to submit— 
‘‘(A) information showing the presence of a 
perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substance in 
water of the community water system; and 
‘‘(B) a certification that the treatment 
technology in use by the community water sys-
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tem at the time of application is not sufficient 
to 
remove 
all 
detectable 
amounts 
of 
perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. 
‘‘(c) 
LIST
OF
ELIGIBLE
TREATMENT
TECH-
NOLOGIES.—Not later than 150 days after the date of en-
actment of this section, and every 2 years thereafter, the 
Administrator shall publish a list of treatment tech-
nologies that the Administrator determines are effective 
at removing all detectable amounts of perfluoroalkyl and 
polyfluoroalkyl substances from drinking water. 
‘‘(d) PRIORITY FOR FUNDING.—In awarding grants 
under this section, the Administrator shall prioritize af-
fected community water systems that— 
‘‘(1) serve a disadvantaged community; 
‘‘(2) will provide at least a 10-percent cost 
share for the cost of implementing an eligible treat-
ment technology; or 
‘‘(3) demonstrate the capacity to maintain the 
eligible treatment technology to be implemented 
using the grant. 
‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section not more than 
$500,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2022 
through 2031. 
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