[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3038 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3038
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to prevent the enforcement of
certain national primary drinking water regulations unless sufficient
funding is available.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 25, 2010
Mr. Inhofe (for himself, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Risch, Mr. Barrasso, and Mr.
Vitter) 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 prevent the enforcement of
certain national primary drinking water regulations unless sufficient
funding is available.
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 ``Small System Safe Drinking Water Act
of 2010''.
SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT.
(a) Guidance.--Section 1412(b)(4)(E) of the Safe Drinking Water Act
(42 U.S.C. 300g-1(b)(4)(E)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(vi) Guidance.--As soon as practicable
after the date of enactment of this clause, the
Administrator shall--
``(I) convene a working group
composed of representatives from
States, small publicly owned water
systems, and treatment manufacturers,
which shall, not later than 180 days
after the date of enactment of this
clause, conduct a study of, and submit
to Congress a report on, barriers to
the use of point-of-use and point-of-
entry treatment units, package plants
(including water bottled by the public
water system), and modular units;
``(II) develop a model guidance
document based on recommendations
received from the working group under
subclause (I) and similar State
guidance documents for distribution to
States to assist States in regulating
and promoting the treatment options
described in subclause (I); and
``(III) distribute to small water
systems--
``(aa) the model guidance
document developed under
subclause (II); and
``(bb) such other
information relating to the
treatment options described in
subclause (I) as the
Administrator considers to be
appropriate.''.
(b) Enforcement of National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.--
(1) Variance technologies.--Section 1412(b)(15)(A) of the
Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g-1(b)(15)(A)) is
amended--
(A) by redesignating clauses (i) through (iii) as
subclauses (I) through (III), respectively, and
indenting appropriately;
(B) by striking ``(A) In general.--At the'' and
inserting the following:
``(A) Technologies.--
``(i) In general.--At the''; and
(C) by adding after the matter following
subparagraph (A)(i)(III) (as redesignated by
subparagraph (A)) the following:
``(ii) Affordability.--In establishing
affordability criteria under this subparagraph,
the Administrator shall--
``(I) in determining whether a
treatment technology or treatment
technique is affordable, include
consideration of costs associated with
complying with all relevant regulations
promulgated in accordance with this Act
and the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) with which
a municipality or small public water
system may be required to comply;
``(II) give extra weight to
households the total income of which is
below the poverty level, and to
communities that meet the affordability
criteria of a State established in
accordance with section
1452(b)(3)(A)(iii), as determined by
the Administrator; and
``(III) ensure that the
affordability criteria are not more
costly, on a per-capita basis, to a
small public water system than the
cost, on a per-capita basis, to a large
water system of acquiring feasible
technology described in paragraph
(4).''.
(2) State revolving loan funds.--Section 1452 of the Safe
Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-12) is amended--
(A) by redesignating subsections (n), (o), (p),
(q), and (r) as subsection (o), (p), (q), (r), and (s)
respectively; and
(B) by inserting after subsection (m) the
following:
``(n) Enforcement.--Before initiating any enforcement action, the
Administrator or the State shall ensure that sufficient funds have been
made available under this title to assist each public water system that
serves fewer than 10,000 individuals in meeting requirements under the
regulation.''.
(c) Renewal of Exemption.--Section 1416(b)(2) of the Safe Drinking
Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g-5(b)(2)) is amended by striking subparagraph
(C) and inserting the following:
``(C) In the case of a system that does not serve
more than a population of 10,000 and that needs
financial assistance for the necessary improvements, an
exemption granted under clause (i) or (ii) of
subparagraph (B) may be renewed for such period as the
State determines to be appropriate, if the system
establishes that it is taking all practicable steps to
meet the requirements of subparagraph (B).''.
(d) Research, Technical Assistance, Information, and Training of
Personnel.--Section 1442 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C.
300j-1) is amended--
(1) in subsection (e)--
(A) in the first sentence, by striking ``The
Administrator'' and inserting the following:
``(1) In general.--The Administrator'';
(B) in the second sentence, by striking ``Such
assistance'' and inserting the following:
``(2) Types of assistance.--Assistance provided under
paragraph (1)'';
(C) in the third sentence, by striking ``The
Administrator'' and inserting the following:
``(3) Availability of assistance.--The Administrator'';
(D) in the fourth sentence, by striking ``Each
nonprofit'' and inserting the following:
``(4) Consultation with state.--Each nonprofit''; and
(E) by striking the fifth sentence and all that
follows through the end of the subsection and inserting
the following:
``(5) Assistance in complying with rules.--The
Administrator shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable,
that each water system serving fewer than 10,000 individuals
that is required to comply with Federal drinking water rules
receives adequate technical assistance and training to meet the
requirements of those final rules, including through assistance
to be provided by qualified nonprofit associations with
expertise in public water systems.
``(6) Priority.--The Administrator shall give priority for
assistance under this section to water systems that, as of the
date of enactment of this paragraph, are not in compliance
with, as determined by the Administrator--
``(A) the final rule entitled `Disinfectants and
Disinfection Byproducts' and published by the
Administrator on December 16, 1998 (63 Fed. Reg.
69390);
``(B) the final rule entitled `Arsenic and
Clarifications to Compliance and New Source
Contaminants Monitoring' and published by the
Administrator on January 22, 2001 (66 Fed. Reg. 6976);
``(C) the final rule entitled `Stage 2
Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule' and
published by the Administrator on January 4, 2006 (71
Fed. Reg. 388); and
``(D) the final rule entitled `Ground Water Rule'
and published by the Administrator on November 8, 2006
(71 Fed. Reg. 65574).
``(7) Enforcement action.--Before initiating any
enforcement action, the Administrator or the State shall ensure
that sufficient funds have been made available under this title
to assist each public water system that serves fewer than
10,000 individuals in meeting requirements under the
regulation.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(f) Research and Development Pilot Projects.--
``(1) In general.--The Administrator shall establish a
research pilot program (referred to in this subsection as the
`program') to explore new technologies or approaches that
public water systems may use to comply with a public drinking
water standard promulgated under this Act.
``(2) Responsibilities of administrator.--In carrying out
this subsection, the Administrator shall--
``(A) establish an application process that
includes criteria that may be used to assess water
systems applying for participation in the program;
``(B) based on applications received under
subparagraph (A), select 20 communities with various
populations and water sources in different regions of
the United States for participation in the program;
``(C) fund projects that develop or implement new
technologies or approaches for implementation of
Federal drinking water standards; and
``(D) coordinate projects with the Arsenic Water
Technology Partnership program of the Department of
Energy.
``(3) Technology transfer and disinfection strategies.--The
Administrator shall carry out a pilot program to conduct
research into technology transfer issues and disinfection
strategies relating to drinking water, including risks
associated with the migration to chloramines for the purpose of
water disinfection.
``(4) Funding.--
``(A) Authorization of appropriations.--There is
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this
subsection and subsection (e) $15,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2010 through 2014.
``(B) Lobbying expenses.--No portion of any State
revolving loan fund established under section 1452, and
no portion of any funds made available under this
subsection, may be used for lobbying expenses.
``(C) Tribal assistance.--Of the amount made
available under subparagraph (A) for a fiscal year, at
least 3 percent shall be used for technical assistance
to public water systems owned or operated by Indian
Tribes.''.
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