New bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate in late January would create a new EPA grant program to train the next generation of water utility workers.
Sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the Innovative Water Workforce Development Act (S. 2346) would direct EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to establish a water utility workforce development grant program that would offer aid to public drinking water and wastewater systems that face high retiring workforce rates or that are located in areas with high unemployment. The bill directs EPA to distribute grants to geographically diverse water and wastewater systems serving both rural and urban areas that face workforce and human resources needs. The legislation does not tie a dollar amount to the program, only authorizing the expenditure of “such sums as are necessary” to carry out the legislation.
The legislation would also create a new class of water system called an “intractable water system.” The bill would define an intractable system as a community or non-community water system that serves fewer than 1,000 people and meets one of several criteria, such as its owner or operator having abandoned the system, defaulted on a financial obligation, remaining in significant noncompliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, or being “unwilling or unable to provide safe and adequate water service” to its customers. The bill would direct EPA to offer grants to such systems “to the maximum extent practicable.”
In response to concerns AMWA raised about the breadth of systems that could meet the definition of “intractable” and thereby receive preference for grant funding, the bill’s sponsors said the provision was intended to steer workforce assistance to small or abandoned water systems serving former coal mining communities in West Virginia. AMWA has offered to work with the sponsors to refine the definition.
A statement from Sen. Booker said S. 2346 would support internship, apprenticeship and post-secondary bridge programs, encourage collaboration with labor unions and community colleges to provide on-the-job training, and take steps to increase awareness about opportunities for employment in the water utility sector.
The bill will be put before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for consideration, but as of now there is no timetable for potential action on the measure.