Legislation introduced in the Senate on October 15 would offer new federal incentives to encourage troubled community water systems to explore partnership and consolidation opportunities. The legislation is based upon a draft proposal for which AMWA and other water sector stakeholders expressed support last year.
Sponsored by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), the Voluntary Water Partnerships for Distressed Communities Act (S. 2596) would not require any water system to enter into, or even consider entering, a partnership with another water system or management or ownership entity. Instead, the bill would establish a process by which a community water system identified by its state as being in “significant noncompliance” with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) may explore partnership options in return for a temporary pause in most SDWA enforcement actions that do not relate to imminent public health threats.
Under the bill, a significantly noncompliant water system that notifies its state of an intent to enter a partnership would be shielded from most SDWA enforcement actions for a period of 180 days, as long as the system is “actively and in good faith working to enter into a partnership.” The bill defines a qualifying partnership as a joint enterprise between, or the combined operations of, at least two significantly noncompliant systems, or at least one significantly noncompliant system with another community water system. Agreements under which significantly noncompliant systems enter contracts for other entities to manage parts of the system would also qualify as partnerships under the bill.
Other parts of the legislation would give a new partnership up to three years to correct issues that led to a water system’s significant noncompliance with SDWA, but would also prevent a partnership from being held liable for violations incurred by significantly noncompliant systems before the partnership was formed. The bill would allow distressed water systems to use Drinking Water State Revolving Fund dollars to explore partnership options.
In 2018 AMWA and several other water sector organizations provided feedback on an earlier draft version of the partnerships legislation and ultimately expressed support for the proposal, though it was not introduced before the end of the last congressional session. S. 2596 closely mirrors that earlier draft proposal, and its sponsors are expected to attempt to push for its inclusion in the next Water Resources Development Act reauthorization that the Senate plans to consider next year.