Sponsors (11)
The bill provides modest, predictable federal funding and statutory support to advance regional water research and wastewater-reuse projects—improving coordination and project readiness—but does so while reserving funds for multi‑state priorities and leaving potential trade-offs in funding scale, local flexibility, legal clarity, and possible industry influence.
State and local water managers, and communities experiencing water stress (rural and urban), gain stronger statutory support for research into reclaiming wastewater and converting impaired waters, enabling more projects that can increase local water supplies.
Scientists and state water research institutes receive a predictable $16 million per year (FY2026–2029), increasing funding stability for water-resources research and planning.
States and multi-state regions get targeted support because 20% of annual funds are reserved for interstate/regional water problems, improving coordination and research on shared water challenges.
State and local single-state projects and local communities may face reduced access to funds because reserving 20% for interstate/regional research cuts the flexible pool available for single-state priorities.
Scientists and state programs may find the authorized $16 million per year modest relative to nationwide needs, limiting the number and scale of projects that can be funded.
Local communities and small, locally focused research priorities could be sidelined if funding and priorities emphasize federally joint or Congress-identified problems over locally identified needs.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes $16M/year (FY2026–2029) for Water Resources Research and reserves 20% of funds for interstate/regional water-problem research.
Authorizes $16 million per year for fiscal years 2026–2029 to support the Water Resources Research Act program, and requires that 20% of those funds be dedicated to research on interstate or regional water problems. The bill also updates statutory language to clarify that federally supported research can include interstate/regional projects and enumerates allowable priorities and grant rules. The measure amends the Water Resources Research Act purpose language (exact inserted text not shown) and reorganizes statutory subsections to add headings, clarify cost-share and availability rules, and create a new competitive grants structure for interstate/regional research funding.
Official title: AWRC Act of 2025
Introduced March 9, 2026 by Robert J. Wittman · Last progress September 15, 2026