The U.S. Senate on June 9 unanimously passed a pair of bills that would reauthorize programs providing Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) technical assistance to small communities and federal grant funding for water resources research institutes.
The first bill, sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) as the “Grassroots Rural and Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act” (S. 611), would reauthorize SDWA’s technical assistance and training provision at $15 million per year over the next six years. The bill would authorize EPA to direct the funding to nonprofit organizations to provide onsite assistance, regional training and aid with implementation monitoring plans, rules, regulations and water security enhancements to ensure compliance with federal drinking water laws.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) sponsored the other Senate-passed bill as the “Water Resources Research Amendments Act” (S. 653). That measure would authorize $7.5 million per year to help water resource research institutes across the country study state and regional water challenges, provide training for hydrologists and other water-related scientists and engineers, and fund public outreach and education on water issues. The program’s most recent authorization expired at the end of the 2011 fiscal year.
Each bill now moves to the House of Representatives, but House leaders have given no indication on when the proposals might receive votes in that chamber.