“To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide grants for nitrate and arsenic reduction projects, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes a grant program under the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide assistance, subject to appropriations, to eligible entities (i.e., community water systems, nontransient noncommunity water systems serving at least 25 of the same persons over six months or more per year, qualified nonprofits experienced in nitrate or arsenic reduction, and municipalities or state, interstate, or intermunicipal agencies) for projects to reduce nitrate or arsenic concentrations in drinking water for human consumption. As a precondition for grants, eligible entities must identify contamination sources and demonstrate meaningful reductions from proposed projects. The EPA Administrator must prioritize grants to disadvantaged communities—based on state affordability criteria under SDWA section 1452(d)(3)—that have not complied with nitrate or arsenic maximum contaminant levels in the prior three years or that address such levels at schools, daycares, or facilities primarily serving children or other vulnerable subpopulations. Grants may fund treatment technologies, with first priority to disadvantaged communities, low-income homeowners, and landlords or property owners providing housing to low-income renters (i.e., as defined by the state governor using SDWA section 1452(d)(3) affordability criteria). No more than 4% of funds may be used for EPA administrative costs, and $15 million is authorized for FY2026 and each fiscal year thereafter. This section also directs the EPA Administrator to review the program's consideration of equity, including for economically disadvantaged and underserved populations.