Grassroots Rural and Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act - Calls for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prioritize the types of technical assistance to enable small public water systems to comply with national primary drinking water regulations that are the most beneficial to small and rural communities, based on their input.
Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to: (1) authorize appropriations to the Administrator of EPA for FY2012-FY2017 for such assistance; and (2) allow the Administrator to use such funds to provide technical assistance to nonprofit organizations that provide to small public water systems onsite technical assistance, circuit-rider technical assistance programs, onsite and regional training, assistance with implementing source water protection plans, and assistance with implementation monitoring plans, rules, regulations, and water security enhancements. Directs the Administrator to give preference to nonprofit organizations that are determined to be the most qualified and experienced and that the small community water systems find to be the most beneficial and effective.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2166 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2166
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to reauthorize technical
assistance to small public water systems, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 7, 2012
Mr. Conrad (for himself, Mr. Wicker, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Johnson of
South Dakota, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Inhofe, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Tester, Mr.
Crapo, Mr. Risch, Mr. Moran, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, and Mr. Baucus)
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 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 most effectively assist small and rural communities,
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 ``2012 through 2017''; 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 technical assistance to nonprofit organizations
that provide to small public water systems onsite
technical assistance, circuit-rider technical
assistance programs, onsite and regional training,
assistance with implementing source water protection
plans, and assistance with implementation 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 and that the small community water
systems in that State find to be the most beneficial
and effective.''.
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Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
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