I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4540 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 11, 2023 Mr. Cuellar (for himself and Mr. Smith of New Jersey ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to establish a program to provide grants to suppliers of water for the purpose of making infrastructure improvements to public water systems, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Water Infrastructure Enhancement Act of 2023 . 2. Water Infrastructure Enhancement Part E of the Safe Drinking Water Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300j et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following: 1459H. Water Infrastructure Enhancement (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Area of persistent poverty The term area of persistent poverty means— (A) any county (or equivalent jurisdiction) in which, during the 30-year period ending on the date of enactment of this section, 20 percent or more of the population continually lived in poverty, as measured by— (i) the 1990 decennial census; (ii) the 2000 decennial census; and (iii) the most recent annual small area income and poverty estimate of the Bureau of the Census; (B) any census tract with a poverty rate of not less than 20 percent, as measured by the 5-year data series available from the American Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census for the period of 2014 through 2018; and (C) any territory or possession of the United States. (2) Eligible activity The term eligible activity means one of the following activities with respect to a public water system: (A) Installing or upgrading water treatment facilities. (B) Constructing or rehabilitating storage tanks. (C) Installing or replacing water transmission and distribution pipes. (D) Installing or upgrading pump stations. (E) Installing emergency generators. (F) Upgrading supervisory control and data acquisition systems. (G) Installing advanced metering infrastructure. (H) Installing or upgrading wells. (I) Facilitating compliance with any primary or secondary drinking water regulation promulgated under this Act. (J) Any other activity determined appropriate by the Administrator. (3) Rural area The term rural area means an area with a population of 20,000 or fewer inhabitants. (b) Water infrastructure enhancement grant program (1) In general The Administrator shall establish a program to provide grants to suppliers of water to carry out eligible activities for the purpose of making infrastructure improvements to public water systems in accordance with this section. (2) Other considerations Of the total amounts made available to carry out the grant program established under paragraph (1)— (A) not less than 50 percent shall be for eligible activities carried out in rural areas; and (B) not less than 15 percent shall be awarded to eligible activities carried out in historically disadvantaged communities or areas of persistent poverty. (3) Cost-sharing The Federal share of the cost of an eligible activity carried out using a grant under this section shall be not more than 90 percent. (4) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $800,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2024 through 2029. .