Safe School Drinking Water Act

Safe School Drinking Water Act

This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program to award grants to assist local educational agencies in installing and maintaining filtration stations (e.g., drinking fountains) at schools and child care programs.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4805 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4805

 To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
     establish a program to make grants to States to assist local 
   educational agencies in voluntary installation and maintenance of 
 filtration stations at schools and child care programs, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2021

  Ms. Clarke of New York (for herself, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Norton, Mr. 
   Blumenauer, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. 
  Lowenthal, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Payne, Mr. Evans, Ms. 
Newman, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Lee of California, and Ms. Meng) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 
     establish a program to make grants to States to assist local 
   educational agencies in voluntary installation and maintenance of 
 filtration stations at schools and child care programs, 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 ``Safe School Drinking Water Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR INSTALLATION OF FILTRATION STATIONS AT 
              SCHOOLS AND CHILD CARE PROGRAMS.

    Section 1464 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-24) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Grant Program for Installation and Maintenance of Filtration 
Stations.--
            ``(1) Program.--The Administrator shall establish a program 
        to make grants to States to assist local educational agencies 
        in voluntary installation and maintenance of filtration 
        stations at schools and child care programs under the 
        jurisdiction of the local educational agencies.
            ``(2) Direct grants to local educational agencies.--The 
        Administrator may make a grant described in paragraph (1) 
        directly available to--
                    ``(A) any local educational agency described in 
                clause (i) or (iii) of subsection (d)(1)(B) located in 
                a State that does not participate in the program 
                established under paragraph (1); or
                    ``(B) any local educational agency described in 
                clause (ii) of subsection (d)(1)(B).
            ``(3) Use of funds.--Grants made under the program 
        established under this subsection may be used to pay the costs 
        of--
                    ``(A) installation and maintenance of filtration 
                stations at schools and child care programs; and
                    ``(B) annual testing of drinking water at such 
                schools and child care programs following the 
                installation of filtration stations.
            ``(4) Priority.--In making grants under the program 
        established under this subsection, the Administrator shall give 
        priority to States and local educational agencies that will 
        assist in voluntary installation and maintenance of filtration 
        stations at schools and child care programs that are in low-
        income areas.
            ``(5) Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall establish 
        guidance to carry out the program established under this 
        subsection.
            ``(6) No prior testing required.--The program established 
        under this subsection shall not require testing for lead 
        contamination in drinking water at schools and child care 
        programs prior to participation in such program.
            ``(7) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Child care program and local educational 
                agency.--The terms `child care program' and `local 
                educational agency' have the meaning given such terms 
                in subsection (d).
                    ``(B) Filtration station.--The term `filtration 
                station' means an apparatus that--
                            ``(i) is connected to building plumbing;
                            ``(ii) is certified to the latest version 
                        of NSF/ANSI 53 for lead reduction and NSF/ANSI 
                        42 for particulate reduction (Class I) by a 
                        certification body accredited by the American 
                        National Standards Institute National 
                        Accreditation Board;
                            ``(iii) has an indicator to show filter 
                        performance;
                            ``(iv) can fill bottles or containers for 
                        water consumption; and
                            ``(v) allows users to drink directly from a 
                        stream of flowing water.
            ``(8) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $100,000,000 
        for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2031.''.
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