[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 716 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 716

 To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize 
the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to nonprofit organizations 
      to finance the construction, refurbishing, and servicing of 
  individually-owned household water well systems in rural areas for 
               individuals with low or moderate incomes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 5, 2001

 Mr. Santorum introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize 
the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to nonprofit organizations 
      to finance the construction, refurbishing, and servicing of 
  individually-owned household water well systems in rural areas for 
               individuals with low or moderate incomes.

    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 ``Affordable Drinking Water Act of 
2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) affordable access to safe, reliable drinking water is 
        in the public interest;
            (2) approximately 10,000,000 households in the United 
        States receive drinking water from household water well 
        systems;
            (3) according to a national survey, more than 80 percent of 
        those well owners express a preference for water from their 
        household water well system over water from a community 
        drinking water system or bottled water;
            (4) many consumers and farms in the United States receive 
        drinking water from older household water well systems that are 
        not constructed to current standards;
            (5) those systems should be upgraded to ensure consumer and 
        farm access to the safest and most reliable sources of drinking 
        water;
            (6) the Department of Agriculture, including the Rural 
        Utilities Service, has no program focused on funding the 
        construction, refurbishment, or servicing of individually-owned 
        household water well systems; and
            (7) centralized water systems are not always the most cost-
        efficient way to deliver safe, reliable drinking water to rural 
        customers.

SEC. 3. GRANTS TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO FINANCE THE CONSTRUCTION, 
              REFURBISHING, AND SERVICING OF INDIVIDUALLY-OWNED 
              HOUSEHOLD WATER WELL SYSTEMS IN RURAL AREAS FOR 
              INDIVIDUALS WITH LOW OR MODERATE INCOMES.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle A of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1922 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 
section 306D (7 U.S.C. 1926d) the following:

``SEC. 306E. GRANTS TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO FINANCE THE 
              CONSTRUCTION, REFURBISHING, AND SERVICING OF 
              INDIVIDUALLY-OWNED HOUSEHOLD WATER WELL SYSTEMS IN RURAL 
              AREAS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH LOW OR MODERATE INCOMES.

    ``(a) Definition of Eligible Individual.--In this section, the term 
`eligible individual' means an individual who is a member of a 
household, the combined income of whose members for the most recent 12-
month period for which the information is available, is not more than 
100 percent of the median nonmetropolitan household income for the 
State or territory in which the individual resides, according to the 
most recent decennial census of the United States.
    ``(b) Grants.--The Secretary may make grants to private nonprofit 
organizations for the purpose of assisting eligible individuals in 
obtaining financing for the construction, refurbishing, and servicing 
of individual household water well systems in rural areas that are 
owned (or to be owned) by the eligible individuals.
    ``(c) Use of Funds.--A grant made under this section may be--
            ``(1) used, or invested to provide income to be used, to 
        carry out subsection (b); and
            ``(2) used to pay administrative expenses associated with 
        providing the assistance described in subsection (b).
    ``(d) Priority in Awarding Grants.--In awarding grants under this 
section, the Secretary shall give priority to an applicant that has 
substantial expertise and experience in promoting the safe and 
productive use of individually-owned household water well systems and 
ground water.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section takes 
effect on October 1, 2001.
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