[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 129, 114th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


Public Law 114-98
114th Congress

An Act


 
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize 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 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.

[[Page 2200]]

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.''.

Approved December 11, 2015.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S. 611:
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HOUSE REPORTS: No. 114-346 (Comm. on Energy and Commerce).
SENATE REPORTS: No. 114-47 (Comm. on Environment and Public Works).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 161 (2015):
June 9, considered and passed Senate.
Nov. 30, considered and passed House.