The 115 th Congress initiated deliberations on an omnibus water authorization bill with H.R. 8 , the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 (WRDA 2018), and S. 2800 , America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA 2018). On June 6, 2018, the House passed H.R. 8 , which was subsequently received in the Senate and referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Senate EPW). On July 9, 2018, the Senate EPW posted on its website an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 8 , titled America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. This CRS report discusses H.R. 8 as passed by the House (referred to herein as WRDA 2018) and the Senate EPW-posted amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 8 of July 9, 2018 (referred to herein as AWIA 2018). The Senate did not take up H.R. 8 or S. 2800 . Instead, House and Senate committee leadership agreed on new legislative text for an omnibus water authorization bill. On September 13, 2018, the House amended an unrelated courthouse-naming bill, passed by the Senate as S. 3021 , to include the negotiated text. The negotiated text contained provisions from various pieces of legislation, most prominently H.R. 8 , S. 2800 , and H.R. 3387 (Drinking Water Systems Improvement Act of 2017). Like S. 2800 , the House-passed S. 3021 is titled America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. Because S. 3021 was sent to the Senate in the form of a House amendment, the Senate can begin consideration of the text more quickly than it could if it were sent in the form of a House bill. If the Senate agrees to the House amendments to the bill without proposing any further changes, the bill will be sent to the President for his signature. Otherwise, the two chambers can attempt to resolve their differences over the text of S. 3021 prior to the adjournment of the 115 th Congress. This could be through a further exchange of amendments between the chambers or through the creation of a conference committee. For information on S. 3021 , see CRS Report R45185, Army Corps of Engineers: Water Resource Authorization and Project Delivery Processes , by [author name scrubbed], and CRS Report R45304, Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF): Overview, Issues, and Legislation , by [author name scrubbed]. Enactment of S. 3021 likely would mean that the 115 th Congress would not take further action on H.R. 8 or on the Senate EPW-posted amendment to H.R. 8 , the two legislative texts discussed in this report. For reference, Table 1 provides information on the title and status of the various legislative texts for omnibus water authorization in the 115 th Congress, as of October 2, 2018. This CRS report reflects deliberations and effects of H.R. 8 as it was passed by the House (referred to herein as WRDA 2018) on June 11, 2018, and the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 8 as it was posted by the Senate EPW on July 9, 2018 (referred to herein as AWIA 2018). Subsequent legislative actions on omnibus water resource legislation (e.g., House-passed amendments to S. 3021 ) generally are not reflected in this report. Deliberations on WRDA 2018 and AWIA 2018 included discussions of the scope of water issues to be addressed and how the legislation would influence federal and nonfederal investments in water infrastructure. In addition, there was some interest in altering how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was structured and in modifying its operations and delivery of water resource projects. In the Senate, deliberations also focused on a range of drinking water and water quality issues facing communities and rural areas. Issues included infrastructure needs and the federal role and options for funding projects, communities' ability to comply with water quality regulatory requirements and options for compliance flexibility and affordability, infrastructure resiliency, and technology innovation, among others. In the tradition of previous legislation with the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) title, WRDA 2018 focused primarily on authorizing water resource projects and activities of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and dam and levee safety programs. AWIA 2018 included not only provisions related to USACE, but also provisions involving water quality and drinking water programs administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), particularly in Title V of AWIA 2018 ("EPA-Related Provisions"). In addition, AWIA 2018 included a few other provisions that relate primarily to tribal water-related programs and authorities, and certain Department of the Interior (DOI) activities and programs. This report provides an overview of WRDA 2018 ( H.R. 8 as passed by the House) and AWIA 2018 (the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 8 posted by the Senate EPW on July 9, 2018) and topics shaping deliberations. After a brief background, the report presents a broad overview of WRDA 2018 and AWIA 2018. The subsequent section describes the context for the USACE provisions of WRDA 2018 and AWIA 2018. The final section describes EPA-related provisions. Congress generally authorizes USACE water resource activities in authorization legislation prior to funding the activities through appropriations legislation. USACE's ability to act on an authorization often is determined by funding. Congress generally authorizes numerous new USACE site-specific activities and provides policy direction in an omnibus USACE authorization bill, typically a WRDA. A few provisions in WRDA bills have time-limited authorizations; therefore, some WRDA provisions may reauthorize expired or expiring authorities. Beginning with WRDA 1986 ( P.L. 99-662 ), Congress loosely followed a biennial WRDA cycle for several years. WRDAs were enacted in 1988 ( P.L. 100-676 ), 1990 ( P.L. 101-640 ), 1992 ( P.L. 102-580 ), 1996 ( P.L. 104-303 ), 1999 ( P.L. 106-53 ), 2000 ( P.L. 106-541 ), and 2007 ( P.L. 110-114 ). The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 (WRRDA 2014; P.L. 113-121 ) was enacted in June 2014. The most recently enacted water authorization legislation was the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN; P.L. 114-322 ); it was enacted in December 2016. WIIN included titles on water-related programs and projects spanning various agencies and departments. Title I of the bill—which had a short title of WRDA 2016—focused specifically on USACE water resource authorizations. Titles II, III, and IV focused primarily on other agencies; many of the specific provisions in these titles had little or no relationship to USACE. Both WRDA 2018 and AWIA 2018 included numerous provisions that address USACE-related activities. For example, both WRDA 2018 and AWIA 2018 would have authorized USACE to conduct new studies and construct new projects, and both WRDA 2018 and AWIA 2018 would have modified existing authorizations. For example, USACE and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have certain responsibilities related to national programs for dam and levee safety. Both WRDA 2018 and AWIA 2018 would have extended beyond FY2019 the authorization of appropriations for a federal levee safety initiative and a national dam safety program; WRDA 2018 would have extended the authorizations of appropriations through FY2023, and AWIA 2018 would have extended them through FY2021. Table 2 provides a summary of the organization of WRDA 2018 and AWIA 2018 and their status. A broad difference between the two was their scope. WRDA 2018 focused on USACE water resource projects and programs and dam and levee safety program authorities; although the majority of AWIA 2018's titles and provisions also related to the USACE's water resource projects, numerous provisions of AWIA 2018 were not directly related to USACE water resource activities. AWIA 2018 included provisions addressing a range of other topics, including EPA administered water programs and regulatory authorities, and water-related activities and other authorities of the Department of the Interior and other agencies. For example, the following DOI-related provisions were in AWIA 2018: Section 1046 related to the processing of take permits by DOI's Fish and Wildlife Service for bald and golden eagles or certain other migratory birds (e.g., permits that allow birds to be killed, harassed, or captured); Section 3301 related to the Bureau of Reclamation's Fontenelle reservoir; and Section 5007 related to water resources research institutes at state universities that are supported through a program administered by the U.S. Geological Survey. AWIA 2018 also included provisions that were not tied to a specific agency; Section 1042, for example, related to the use by federal and state agencies of geomatic data in the approval of federal authorizations (conditional upon subsequent onsite inspection). In addition, AWIA 2018 would have addressed an array of water-related programs and activities specific to tribes; most of these provisions were in Subtitle I of Title III. They included provisions related to Indian dam safety and irrigation authorities and USACE housing assistance related to certain dam construction in the Pacific Northwest. A few provisions were in other titles of AWIA 2018; for example, Section 1040 would have required that nonfederal interests for a water resource development study or project be provided "the opportunity to participate in all consultations with Federal and State agencies and Indian tribes required by Federal law." WRDA 2018 had fewer provisions affecting tribes than AWIA 2018, and they directly related to USACE activities.