[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 999 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 999

  To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to prevent the enforcement of 
 certain national primary drinking water regulations unless sufficient 
                         funding is available.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 16, 2011

  Mr. Inhofe (for himself, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Boozman, Mr. 
  Risch, and Mr. Crapo) introduced the following bill; which was read 
  twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to prevent the enforcement of 
 certain national primary drinking water regulations unless sufficient 
                         funding is available.

    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 ``Small System Safe Drinking Water Act 
of 2011''.

SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Guidance.--Section 1412(b)(4)(E) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 
(42 U.S.C. 300g-1(b)(4)(E)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
                            ``(vi) Guidance.--As soon as practicable 
                        after the date of enactment of this clause, the 
                        Administrator shall--
                                    ``(I) convene a working group 
                                composed of representatives from 
                                States, small publicly owned water 
                                systems, and treatment manufacturers, 
                                which shall, not later than 180 days 
                                after the date of enactment of this 
                                clause, conduct a study of, and submit 
                                to Congress a report on, barriers to 
                                the use of point-of-use and point-of-
                                entry treatment units, package plants 
                                (including water bottled by the public 
                                water system), and modular units;
                                    ``(II) develop a model guidance 
                                document based on recommendations 
                                received from the working group under 
                                subclause (I) and similar State 
                                guidance documents for distribution to 
                                States to assist States in regulating 
                                and promoting the treatment options 
                                described in subclause (I); and
                                    ``(III) distribute to small water 
                                systems--
                                            ``(aa) the model guidance 
                                        document developed under 
                                        subclause (II); and
                                            ``(bb) such other 
                                        information relating to the 
                                        treatment options described in 
                                        subclause (I) as the 
                                        Administrator considers to be 
                                        appropriate.''.
    (b) Enforcement of National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.--
            (1) Variance technologies.--Section 1412(b)(15)(A) of the 
        Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g-1(b)(15)(A)) is 
        amended--
                    (A) by redesignating clauses (i) through (iii) as 
                subclauses (I) through (III), respectively, and 
                indenting appropriately;
                    (B) by striking ``(A) In general.--At the'' and 
                inserting the following:
                    ``(A) Technologies.--
                            ``(i) In general.--At the''; and
                    (C) by adding after the matter following 
                subparagraph (A)(i)(III) (as redesignated by 
                subparagraph (A)) the following:
                            ``(ii) Affordability.--In establishing 
                        affordability criteria under this subparagraph, 
                        the Administrator shall--
                                    ``(I) in determining whether a 
                                treatment technology or treatment 
                                technique is affordable, include 
                                consideration of costs associated with 
                                complying with all relevant regulations 
                                promulgated in accordance with this Act 
                                and the Federal Water Pollution Control 
                                Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) with which 
                                a municipality or small public water 
                                system may be required to comply;
                                    ``(II) give extra weight to 
                                households the total income of which is 
                                below the poverty level, and to 
                                communities that meet the affordability 
                                criteria of a State established in 
                                accordance with section 
                                1452(b)(3)(A)(iii), as determined by 
                                the Administrator; and
                                    ``(III) ensure that the 
                                affordability criteria are not more 
                                costly, on a per-capita basis, to a 
                                small public water system than the 
                                cost, on a per-capita basis, to a large 
                                water system of acquiring feasible 
                                technology described in paragraph 
                                (4).''.
            (2) State revolving loan funds.--Section 1452 of the Safe 
        Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-12) is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating subsections (n), (o), (p), 
                (q), and (r) as subsection (o), (p), (q), (r), and (s) 
                respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after subsection (m) the 
                following:
    ``(n) Enforcement.--Before initiating any enforcement action, the 
Administrator or the State shall ensure that sufficient funds have been 
made available under this title to assist each public water system that 
serves fewer than 10,000 individuals in meeting requirements under the 
regulation.''.
    (c) Renewal of Exemption.--Section 1416(b)(2) of the Safe Drinking 
Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g-5(b)(2)) is amended by striking subparagraph 
(C) and inserting the following:
                    ``(C) In the case of a system that does not serve 
                more than a population of 10,000 and that needs 
                financial assistance for the necessary improvements, an 
                exemption granted under clause (i) or (ii) of 
                subparagraph (B) may be renewed for such period as the 
                State determines to be appropriate, if the system 
                establishes that it is taking all practicable steps to 
                meet the requirements of subparagraph (B).''.
    (d) Research, Technical Assistance, Information, and Training of 
Personnel.--Section 1442 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 
300j-1) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (e)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``The 
                Administrator'' and inserting the following:
            ``(1) In general.--The Administrator'';
                    (B) in the second sentence, by striking ``Such 
                assistance'' and inserting the following:
            ``(2) Types of assistance.--Assistance provided under 
        paragraph (1)'';
                    (C) in the third sentence, by striking ``The 
                Administrator'' and inserting the following:
            ``(3) Availability of assistance.--The Administrator'';
                    (D) in the fourth sentence, by striking ``Each 
                nonprofit'' and inserting the following:
            ``(4) Consultation with state.--Each nonprofit''; and
                    (E) by striking the fifth sentence and all that 
                follows through the end of the subsection and inserting 
                the following:
            ``(5) Assistance in complying with rules.--The 
        Administrator shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, 
        that each water system serving fewer than 10,000 individuals 
        that is required to comply with Federal drinking water rules 
        receives adequate technical assistance and training to meet the 
        requirements of those final rules, including through assistance 
        to be provided by qualified nonprofit associations with 
        expertise in public water systems.
            ``(6) Priority.--The Administrator shall give priority for 
        assistance under this section to water systems that, as of the 
        date of enactment of this paragraph, are not in compliance 
        with, as determined by the Administrator--
                    ``(A) the final rule entitled `Disinfectants and 
                Disinfection Byproducts' and published by the 
                Administrator on December 16, 1998 (63 Fed. Reg. 
                69390);
                    ``(B) the final rule entitled `Arsenic and 
                Clarifications to Compliance and New Source 
                Contaminants Monitoring' and published by the 
                Administrator on January 22, 2001 (66 Fed. Reg. 6976);
                    ``(C) the final rule entitled `Stage 2 
                Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule' and 
                published by the Administrator on January 4, 2006 (71 
                Fed. Reg. 388);
                    ``(D) the final rule entitled `Ground Water Rule' 
                and published by the Administrator on November 8, 2006 
                (71 Fed. Reg. 65574); and
                    ``(E) any other final rule promulgated by the 
                Administrator after the date of enactment of this 
                paragraph.
            ``(7) Enforcement action.--Before initiating any 
        enforcement action, the Administrator or the State shall ensure 
        that sufficient funds have been made available under this title 
        to assist each public water system that serves fewer than 
        10,000 individuals in meeting requirements under the 
        regulation.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Research and Development Pilot Projects.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Administrator shall establish a 
        research pilot program (referred to in this subsection as the 
        `program') to explore new technologies or approaches that 
        public water systems may use to comply with a public drinking 
        water standard promulgated under this Act.
            ``(2) Responsibilities of administrator.--In carrying out 
        this subsection, the Administrator shall--
                    ``(A) establish an application process that 
                includes criteria that may be used to assess water 
                systems applying for participation in the program;
                    ``(B) based on applications received under 
                subparagraph (A), select 20 communities with various 
                populations and water sources in different regions of 
                the United States for participation in the program;
                    ``(C) fund projects that develop or implement new 
                technologies or approaches for implementation of 
                Federal drinking water standards; and
                    ``(D) coordinate projects with the Arsenic Water 
                Technology Partnership program of the Department of 
                Energy.
            ``(3) Technology transfer and disinfection strategies.--The 
        Administrator shall carry out a pilot program to conduct 
        research into technology transfer issues and disinfection 
        strategies relating to drinking water, including risks 
        associated with the migration to chloramines for the purpose of 
        water disinfection.
            ``(4) Funding.--
                    ``(A) Authorization of appropriations.--There is 
                authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
                subsection and subsection (e) $15,000,000 for each of 
                fiscal years 2011 through 2015.
                    ``(B) Lobbying expenses.--No portion of any State 
                revolving loan fund established under section 1452, and 
                no portion of any funds made available under this 
                subsection, may be used for lobbying expenses.
                    ``(C) Tribal assistance.--Of the amount made 
                available under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal year, at 
                least 3 percent shall be used for technical assistance 
                to public water systems owned or operated by Indian 
                Tribes.''.
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