[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 8940-8941]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2015

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 83, S. 611, and 
Calendar No. 84, S. 653, en bloc.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bills by title en 
bloc.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 611) to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to 
     reauthorize technical assistance to small public water 
     systems, and for other purposes.
       A bill (S. 653) to amend the Water Resources Research Act 
     of 1984 to reauthorize grants for and require applied water 
     supply research regarding the water resources research and 
     technology institutes established under that Act.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bills 
en bloc.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills 
be read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 611) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                 S. 611

       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 technical 
     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 
     maximum benefit.

     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 Administrator 
     shall give preference under this paragraph to nonprofit 
     organizations that, as determined by the Administrator, 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.''.

  The bill (S. 653) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                 S. 653

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

[[Page 8941]]



     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Water Resources Research 
     Amendments Act of 2015''.

     SEC. 2. WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH ACT AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Congressional Findings and Declarations.--Section 102 
     of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10301) 
     is amended--
       (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through (9) as 
     paragraphs (8) through (10), respectively;
       (2) in paragraph (8) (as so redesignated), by striking 
     ``and'' at the end; and
       (3) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following:
       ``(7) additional research is required into increasing the 
     effectiveness and efficiency of new and existing treatment 
     works through alternative approaches, including--
       ``(A) nonstructural alternatives;
       ``(B) decentralized approaches;
       ``(C) energy use efficiency;
       ``(D) water use efficiency; and
       ``(E) actions to extract energy from wastewater;''.
       (b) Clarification of Research Activities.--Section 
     104(b)(1) of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (42 
     U.S.C. 10303(b)(1)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ``water-related 
     phenomena'' and inserting ``water resources''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''.
       (c) Compliance Report.--Section 104(c) of the Water 
     Resources Research Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10303(c)) is 
     amended--
       (1) by striking ``(c) From the'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(c) Grants.--
       ``(1) In general.--From the''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) Report.--Not later than December 31 of each fiscal 
     year, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
     Environment and Public Works of the Senate, the Committee on 
     the Budget of the Senate, the Committee on Transportation and 
     Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, and the 
     Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives a 
     report regarding the compliance of each funding recipient 
     with this subsection for the immediately preceding fiscal 
     year.''.
       (d) Evaluation of Water Resources Research Program.--
     Section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (42 
     U.S.C. 10303) is amended by striking subsection (e) and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(e) Evaluation of Water Resources Research Program.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall conduct a careful 
     and detailed evaluation of each institute at least once every 
     3 years to determine--
       ``(A) the quality and relevance of the water resources 
     research of the institute;
       ``(B) the effectiveness of the institute at producing 
     measured results and applied water supply research; and
       ``(C) whether the effectiveness of the institute as an 
     institution for planning, conducting, and arranging for 
     research warrants continued support under this section.
       ``(2) Prohibition on further support.--If, as a result of 
     an evaluation under paragraph (1), the Secretary determines 
     that an institute does not qualify for further support under 
     this section, no further grants to the institute may be 
     provided until the qualifications of the institute are 
     reestablished to the satisfaction of the Secretary.''.
       (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 104(f)(1) of 
     the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 
     10303(f)(1)) is amended by striking ``$12,000,000 for each of 
     fiscal years 2007 through 2011'' and inserting ``$7,500,000 
     for each of fiscal years 2015 through 2020''.
       (f) Additional Appropriations Where Research Focused on 
     Water Problems of Interstate Nature.--Section 104(g)(1) of 
     the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 
     10303(g)(1)) is amended in the first sentence by striking 
     ``$6,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2011'' and 
     inserting ``$1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2015 through 
     2020''.

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