S. 914: Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021

Bill · 117th Congress (2021–2022). Passed Senate, 29 Apr 2021. Introduced 23 Mar 2021.

Official title: A bill to amend the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reauthorize programs under those Acts, and for other purposes.

Vote results

Senate, 29 Apr 2021: Bill Passed, 89 Yea, 2 Nay, 0 Present, 9 Not voting. The Senate’s roll call
President: Not presented to the President.

How each member voted

Senate

Yea (89): Chuck Grassley (R-IA); Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT); Edward J. Markey (D-MA); Charles E. Schumer (D-NY); Ron Wyden (D-OR); Richard J. Durbin (D-IL); Mitch McConnell (R-KY); James M. Inhofe (R-OK); Thomas R. Carper (D-DE); Jack Reed (D-RI); Bernard Sanders (I-VT); Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Mike Crapo (R-ID); Patty Murray (D-WA); Robert Menendez (D-NJ); Richard Burr (R-NC); Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Roger F. Wicker (R-MS); Roy Blunt (R-MO); Susan M. Collins (R-ME); Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); John Thune (R-SD); Rob Portman (R-OH); Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV); John Boozman (R-AR); John Cornyn (R-TX); Lisa Murkowski (R-AK); Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA); Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA); Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY); Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI); Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Christopher Murphy (D-CT); Jon Tester (D-MT); Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI); John Barrasso (R-WY); Bill Cassidy (R-LA); Martin Heinrich (D-NM); Ben Ray Luján (D-NM); Jeff Merkley (D-OR); Gary C. Peters (D-MI); James E. Risch (R-ID); Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); Mark R. Warner (D-VA); Michael F. Bennet (D-CO); Christopher A. Coons (D-DE); Joe Manchin, III (D-WV); Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); John Hoeven (R-ND); Ron Johnson (R-WI); James Lankford (R-OK); Marco Rubio (R-FL); Tim Scott (R-SC); Todd Young (R-IN); Brian Schatz (D-HI); Tom Cotton (R-AR); Steve Daines (R-MT); Tammy Duckworth (D-IL); Deb Fischer (R-NE); Tim Kaine (D-VA); Angus S. King, Jr. (I-ME); Cynthia M. Lummis (R-WY); Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ); Elizabeth Warren (D-MA); Cory A. Booker (D-NJ); Joni Ernst (R-IA); Ben Sasse (R-NE); Dan Sullivan (R-AK); Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV); Margaret Wood Hassan (D-NH); John Kennedy (R-LA); Roger Marshall (R-KS); Jacky Rosen (D-NV); Tina Smith (D-MN); Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS); Mike Braun (R-IN); Josh Hawley (R-MO); Mitt Romney (R-UT); Rick Scott (R-FL); Mark Kelly (D-AZ); Bill Hagerty (R-TN); John W. Hickenlooper (D-CO); Tommy Tuberville (R-AL); Jon Ossoff (D-GA); Alex Padilla (D-CA); Raphael G. Warnock (D-GA).

Nay (2): Mike Lee (R-UT); Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Not voting (9): Richard C. Shelby (R-AL); Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD); Jerry Moran (R-KS); Maria Cantwell (D-WA); Chris Van Hollen (D-MD); Rand Paul (R-KY); Kevin Cramer (R-ND); Mike Rounds (R-SD); Thom Tillis (R-NC).

Not in office (2): Kamala D. Harris (D-CA); Kelly Loeffler (R-GA).

Summary

Main subject: Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and related laws to authorize appropriations for, and to create or revise, drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater programs administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Title I, Title II

Its core areas: Drinking water state revolving loan fund authorizations; Clean water state revolving fund authorizations; Lead reduction in drinking water and school water testing; Grants for small, rural, disadvantaged, and underserved communities; Water system resilience and cybersecurity; Sewer overflow and stormwater grants; Water affordability study and assistance pilot program; Water infrastructure workforce and research programs.

Unexpected Items: 12 provisions

These provisions fall outside the bill’s main subject or apply narrowly. This describes the text; it is not a judgment.

Not related to the bill’s main subject (7)

Sec. 103: Source water petition program: Amends the source water petition program to let a county act on behalf of an unincorporated area, and extends the program's date from 2021 to 2026.
Sec. 115: Annual study on boil water advisories: Requires the Administrator to conduct an annual study on the prevalence of boil water advisories in the United States and report the results with the annual budget request.
Sec. 202: Wastewater efficiency grant pilot program: Creates a pilot grant program for owners or operators of publicly owned treatment works to create or improve waste-to-energy systems, with up to 15 recipients, grants of not more than $4,000,000 each, and $20,000,000 per year authorized for fiscal years 2022 through 2026. ($20,000,000)
Sec. 213: Water data sharing pilot program: Creates a competitive grant pilot program for systems that share water quality, infrastructure and technology information, guided by Internet of Water principles from a named institute, with $15,000,000 per year authorized for fiscal years 2022 through 2026. ($15,000,000)
Sec. 215: Water infrastructure financing reauthorization: Authorizes $50,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2022 through 2026 for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 subtitle, and requires an outreach plan to small and rural communities. ($50,000,000)
Sec. 203: Pilot program for alternative water source projects: Amends the alternative water source pilot program to cover stormwater and groundwater recharge or potable reuse, and sets $25,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2022 through 2026. ($25,000,000)
Sec. 221: Water Resources Research Act amendments: Amends the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 to change grant matching and reporting, add institute evaluations, and set appropriations to fiscal years 2022 through 2025, including reducing an interstate research amount from $6,000,000 to $3,000,000 per year.

Applies only to a specific place or group (1)

Sec. 101: Technical assistance and grants for emergencies affecting public water systems: Lets the Administrator provide technical assistance to State-based nonprofit organizations that are governed by community water systems, and sets $35,000,000 and $15,000,000 yearly authorizations for emergency programs.

Different amount for specific places or groups (2)

Sec. 111: Indian reservation drinking water program: Requires that, if enough projects exist, 50 percent of program funds go to 10 projects in each of five named river basins, sets the Federal share at 100 percent, and authorizes $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
Sec. 212: Grants to Alaska to improve sanitation in rural and Native villages: For the sanitation grants named in the heading for rural and Native villages in Alaska, raises a percentage from 50 to 75 and authorizes $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2024, $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2025, and $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2026.

Changes a government process (1)

Sec. 214: Final rating opinion letters: Changes a Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act requirement from final rating opinion letters from at least 2 rating agencies to a letter from at least 1 rating agency.

Condition defined by a narrow set of criteria (1)

Sec. 222: Enhanced aquifer use and recharge: Directs the Administrator to fund groundwater research on enhanced aquifer use and recharge for sole-source aquifers, with one grant to a State, local government, or Tribe and the remainder to one research center, and authorizes $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026. ($5,000,000)

What it does

Sec. 102: Authorizes appropriations of $2,400,000,000 for fiscal year 2022, $2,750,000,000 for fiscal year 2023, $3,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2024, and $3,250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026 for the drinking water State revolving funds.
Sec. 210: Authorizes appropriations of $2,400,000,000 for fiscal year 2022, $2,750,000,000 for fiscal year 2023, $3,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2024, and $3,250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026 for the clean water State revolving funds.
Sec. 105: Authorizes $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026 for lead reduction grants, revises how lead service line replacement funds are prioritized, and creates a lead inventorying utilization grant pilot program with $10,000,000 authorized.
Sec. 110: Authorizes $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 rising to $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 for a grant program for voluntary lead testing, compliance monitoring, and remediation at schools and child care programs, and adds public water systems, tribal consortia, and qualified nonprofit organizations as participants.
Sec. 104: Authorizes $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 rising to $140,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 for drinking water assistance to small and disadvantaged communities, and lowers the minimum required share paid by the grant from 45 percent to 10 percent in the cited provision.
Sec. 113: Directs the Administrator to develop a prioritization framework and a Technical Cybersecurity Support Plan for public water systems, with voluntary support only.
Sec. 107: Establishes a grant program for midsize and large drinking water systems to increase resilience to natural hazards and extreme weather events and to reduce cybersecurity vulnerabilities, with $50,000,000 authorized for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
Sec. 109: Directs the Administrator to conduct a study of water affordability and then to establish a pilot program of not more than 40 grants to assist qualifying households in maintaining access to drinking water and wastewater treatment.
Sec. 204: Authorizes $280,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026 for sewer overflow and stormwater reuse municipal grants, and requires that, where there are sufficient applications, States use not less than 25 percent of their grants for projects in rural or financially distressed communities.
Sec. 205: Establishes a clean water infrastructure resilience and sustainability grant program for publicly owned treatment works, with $25,000,000 authorized for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026.

Written automatically from the official text by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model. Written 15 Oct 2026 and published after the automatic checks, without a person reading it first. Every line names the section it came from.