In-Depth: Water system owners or operators could only use the grant money on projects that:

• Conserve water or improve efficiency through electronic sensing and control systems;

• Modify or relocate infrastructure that may be impaired by changing hydrologic conditions;

• Preserve or improve water quality by managing, treating, or reusing city stormwater, wastewater, or drinking water;

• Research, design, or build groundwater remediation, recycled water, or desalination facilities;

• Enhance water management through watershed preservation and protection;

• Improve energy efficiency or generating renewable energy through the transfer or treatment of water - including stormwater or wastewater;

• Replace or build systems used for agriculture to promote conservation or improve efficiency;

• Support practices and projects that reuse or recycle water to improve water quality and efficient water use in agriculture;

• Reduce flood damage, risk, and vulnerability by restoring floodplains and wetlands, modifying levees, or promotes land use planning to avoid floodplain development.

The federal government’s share of the cost would not exceed 50 percent, so the owner or operator of the water system receiving the grant must match the federal funding.

Of Note: Sponsoring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) described America’s water infrastructure as being:

“In a state of crisis that is only exacerbated by the effects of climate change, growing populations, and demand. The longer we ignore the problem, the more it costs us.”

As of March 2015, about 11.4 percent of the continental U.S. is in what is considered “severe to extreme drought” - which is an improvement from 16 percent in March 2014 and 35.4 percent in March 2013.

Media:

• Sponsoring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) Press Release
• Homeland Security Newswire (Context)
• Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (In Favor)
• California Association of Sanitation Agencies (Previous Version - In Favor)
  

Summary by Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: Flickr user Millennium Promise)