Grassroots Rural and Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act
PL 114-98 (S.611), enacted 12/11/2015

129 STAT. 2199 
PUBLIC LAW 114–98—DEC. 11, 2015 
Public Law 114–98 
114th Congress 
An Act 
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize technical assistance to 
small public water systems, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grassroots Rural and Small 
Community Water Systems Assistance Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 
(Public Law 104–182) authorized technical assistance for small 
and rural communities to assist those communities in complying 
with regulations promulgated pursuant to the Safe Drinking 
Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 
(2) technical assistance and compliance training— 
(A) ensures that Federal regulations do not overwhelm 
the resources of small and rural communities; and 
(B) provides small and rural communities lacking tech-
nical resources with the necessary skills to improve and 
protect water resources; 
(3) across the United States, more than 90 percent of 
the community water systems serve a population of less than 
10,000 individuals; 
(4) small and rural communities have the greatest difficulty 
providing safe, affordable public drinking water and wastewater 
services due to limited economies of scale and lack of technical 
expertise; and 
(5) in addition to being the main source of compliance 
assistance, small and rural water technical assistance has been 
the main source of emergency response assistance in small 
and rural communities. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) to assist small and rural communities most effectively, 
the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 
should prioritize the types of technical assistance that are 
most beneficial to those communities, based on input from 
those communities; and 
(2) local support is the key to making Federal assistance 
initiatives work in small and rural communities to the max-
imum benefit. 
42 USC 300j–1 
note. 
42 USC 201 note. 
Grassroots Rural 
and Small 
Community 
Water Systems 
Assistance Act. 
Dec. 11, 2015 
[S. 611] 
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129 STAT. 2200 
PUBLIC LAW 114–98—DEC. 11, 2015 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 611: 
HOUSE REPORTS: No. 114–346 (Comm. on Energy and Commerce). 
SENATE REPORTS: No. 114–47 (Comm. on Environment and Public Works). 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 161 (2015): 
June 9, considered and passed Senate. 
Nov. 30, considered and passed House. 
SEC. 4. FUNDING PRIORITIES. 
Section 1442(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 
300j–1(e)) is amended— 
(1) by designating the first through seventh sentences as 
paragraphs (1) through (7), respectively; 
(2) in paragraph (5) (as so designated), by striking ‘‘1997 
through 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2015 through 2020’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(8) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) 
IN
GENERAL.—The 
Administrator 
may 
use 
amounts made available to carry out this section to provide 
grants or cooperative agreements to nonprofit organizations 
that provide to small public water systems onsite technical 
assistance, circuit-rider technical assistance programs, 
multistate, regional technical assistance programs, onsite 
and regional training, assistance with implementing source 
water protection plans, and assistance with implementing 
monitoring plans, rules, regulations, and water security 
enhancements. 
‘‘(B) PREFERENCE.—To ensure that technical assistance 
funding is used in a manner that is most beneficial to 
the small and rural communities of a State, the Adminis-
trator shall give preference under this paragraph to non-
profit organizations that, as determined by the Adminis-
trator, are the most qualified and experienced in providing 
training and technical assistance to small public water 
systems and that the small community water systems in 
that State find to be the most beneficial and effective. 
‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—No grant or cooperative agreement 
provided or otherwise made available under this section 
may be used for litigation pursuant to section 1449.’’. 
Approved December 11, 2015. 
Grants. 
Contracts. 
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