[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2206 Introduced in House (IH)]

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 Committee 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 Representatives 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:
            (1) The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking 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 
        standards. Without these initiatives, effective implementation 
        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 economies of scale and less technical expertise.
            (4) In addition to being the main source of compliance 
        assistance, rural water technical assistance has been the main 
        source of assistance in emergency 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 associations 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 assistance that has 
        the most support of each State's local communities; and
            (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 nonprofit organizations 
        providing on-site technical assistance, circuit-rider technical 
        assistance programs, on-site and regional training, assistance 
        with implementing source water protection plans, and assistance 
        with implementation monitoring plans, rules, regulations, and 
        water security enhancements. To assure technical assistance 
        funding under this subsection is used in a manner most 
        beneficial to small communities in each State, the 
        Administrator shall give preference to nonprofit organizations 
        that, as determined by the Administrator, are most qualified 
        and most effective, and have the majority of support from small 
        community water systems in the States.''.
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