A bill to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to modify eligibility for the State response to contaminants program, and for other purposes.
This bill provides a technical fix to the Safe Drinking Water Act to modify who is eligible to receive grants under the State response to contaminants program. Specifically, it clarifies and expands the conditions under which a State can obtain a grant on behalf of certain communities or private drinking-water-well owners. The changes aim to ensure that disadvantaged communities, small communities with limited debt capacity, and owners of non-public wells can access funds to address drinking water contamination, reflecting a broader and clearer set of eligibility rules. The measure focuses on eligibility criteria rather than authorizing new funding levels. It reorganizes and clarifies how a grant may be issued to a State and for whom the grant may be used (disadvantaged or potentially disadvantaged communities; very small communities; or private wells not part of public water systems). It is described as a “technical fix,” intended to make existing programs more accessible to these groups.
Key Points
- 1The bill amends Section 1459A(j) of the Safe Drinking Water Act to adjust who can be eligible for a State grant under the State response to contaminants program.
- 2It expands eligibility to include: (a) communities identified as disadvantaged (or potentially disadvantaged) under a State’s affordability criteria, including very small communities under 10,000 people that lack the capacity to incur debt for eligible activities; and (b) the owners of drinking water wells that are not public water systems and not connected to a public system.
- 3The eligibility determination relies on a State’s affordability criteria established under section 1452(d)(3) for disadvantaged status, as well as the Federal Administrator’s assessment of debt capacity for small communities.
- 4The bill restructures and clarifies the eligibility language, including how the State can request a grant on behalf of eligible communities or private well owners.
- 5It is a targeted technical amendment, intended to fix potential gaps in who could receive assistance under the program, without specifying new funding levels.