I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2206 
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize the technical assistance 
to small public water systems, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 30, 2009 
Mr. ETHERIDGE
(for himself, Mr. DICKS, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. 
RODRIGUEZ, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. TEAGUE, Ms. MARKEY of Colorado, Mr. 
ORTIZ, Mr. ROSS, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. JONES, Mr. 
HEINRICH, Mr. HARE, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. 
PIERLUISI, Mr. PERRIELLO, Mr. FILNER, Mrs. HALVORSON, and Mr. 
TONKO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize the 
technical assistance to small public water systems, 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 ‘‘Grassroots Rural 
Water Systems Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drink-
ing Water Act authorized technical assistance for 
small and rural communities to assist them with 
compliance with rules and regulations promulgated 
under the Act. Technical assistance and compliance 
training ensures that Federal regulations do not 
overwhelm small and rural communities’ resources. 
It also allows small communities lacking technical 
resources access to assistance necessary to improve 
and protect their water resources. 
(2) Under this authorization, locally supported 
technical assistance initiatives have been operating 
nationwide for the past three decades and have been 
the main source of compliance and assistance for 
small and rural communities to meet federal stand-
ards. Without these initiatives, effective implementa-
tion of the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean 
Water Act in rural areas would be nearly impossible. 
(3) Across the States, over 90 percent of the 
community water systems serve a population less 
than 10,000. Small communities have the greatest 
difficulty providing safe, affordable public drinking 
water and wastewater services due to limited econo-
mies of scale and less technical expertise. 
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(4) In addition to being the main source of 
compliance assistance, rural water technical assist-
ance has been the main source of assistance in emer-
gency response in small and rural communities. 
Rural water technicians were the lead assistance in 
Greensburg, Kansas, in restoring the drinking water 
and sanitary sewer service to that tornado-stricken 
small community (providing water to the temporary 
hospital, housing units, and to the community in 
time). This was also the case in the response to the 
hurricanes in the gulf coast where the hundreds of 
small and rural communities relied on assistance 
from the local and surrounding State rural water as-
sociations for immediate assistance in restoring 
drinking water and sanitation service. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of the Congress that— 
(1) to most effectively assist small communities, 
the 
Environmental 
Protection 
Agency 
should 
prioritize the type of technical assistance that small 
communities find is the most beneficial; 
(2) it is essential for the agency to consider and 
prioritize the type and manner of technical assist-
ance that has the most support of each State’s local 
communities; and 
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(3) local support is the fundamental key to 
making the Federal funding (the Federal assistance 
initiatives) work in small and rural communities to 
the maximum benefit. 
SEC. 4. FUNDING PRIORITIES. 
Section 1442(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 
U.S.C. 300j–1(e)) is amended as follows: 
(1) 
In 
the 
fifth 
sentence 
by 
striking 
‘‘15,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘20,000,000’’ and by 
striking ‘‘1997 through 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2010 
through 2015’’. 
(2) By inserting ‘‘(1)’’ immediately before the 
first sentence. 
(3) By adding the following new paragraph at 
the end thereof: 
‘‘(2) The Administrator may provide technical 
assistance, with funds under this subsection, to non-
profit organizations providing on-site technical as-
sistance, circuit-rider technical assistance programs, 
on-site and regional training, assistance with imple-
menting source water protection plans, and assist-
ance with implementation monitoring plans, rules, 
regulations, and water security enhancements. To 
assure technical assistance funding under this sub-
section is used in a manner most beneficial to small 
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