America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018/Drinking Water Provisions: March 2019 Congressional Research Service Report

The Congressional Research Service (“CRS”) issued a March 28, 2019, report titled:

America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-270): Drinking Water Provisions (“Report”)

The Report is authored by CRS Environmental Policy Analyst Elena H. Humphreys.

The Report primarily addresses the drinking water provisions of Title II and Title IV of the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (“AWIA”). These titles provide appropriations for drinking water and infrastructure programs that promote:

• Compliance
• Addressing aging drinking water infrastructure
• Lead in school drinking water
• Increased drinking water infrastructure resilience to natural hazards

Congress is noted to have been focused for some time on both the condition of drinking water infrastructure and drinking water quality. This focus has included the financial and technical challenges public water systems face in ensuring the delivery of safe and adequate water supplies. The Report further states that national attention has been focused on these issues because of:

• Source water contamination incidents
• Water infrastructure damage from natural disasters
• Detection of elevated lead levels in tap water
• Nationwide need to repair or replace aging drinking water infrastructure

The Report addresses topics such as:

• AWIA Legislative Development and Background
• AWIA Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act
• Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program
• Drinking Water Grant Programs
• State Program Administration Grants
• Information to Consumers
• Compliance Capacity Development
• Protecting Source Water
• Public Water System Resilience and Sustainability
• Review of Technologies
• Report on Federal Cross-Cutting Requirements
• Disaster Assistance
• Water infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program
• WaterSense
• Innovative Water Technology Grant Program

A copy of the Report can be found here.