Sponsor
Alejandro Padilla
Senator · D-CA
Senator · D-CA
Authorizes new and expanded Reclamation grants and programs for conveyance, recycling/reuse, and ecosystem restoration and requires deauthorization of inactive federally authorized projects.
Official title: Amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to reauthorize the large-scale water recycling and reuse program, to establish a Water Conveyance Improvement Program, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 29, 2026 by Alejandro Padilla · Last progress January 29, 2026
The bill directs sizable new federal investment and program rules to accelerate water recycling, conveyance, habitat restoration, and protections for disadvantaged communities and Tribes—strengthening water resilience and ecosystems—but it increases federal spending and local cost‑share burdens, adds administrative conditions that can delay projects, and creates risks that some projects or regions may be left without authorization or financing.
State, tribal, and local water agencies will receive substantial new federal funding (authorized across multiple accounts) to plan, design, and build large-scale water recycling, conveyance, and reuse projects, increasing investment in water infrastructure and supply resilience.
Communities in water‑stressed areas will gain increased water supply resilience through dedicated grants for recycling, reuse, and conveyance improvements that support long‑term availability of treated water.
Local ecosystems and fisheries (including the Great Salt Lake and basin restoration efforts) will receive targeted federal funds for habitat restoration, hatcheries, fish passage, and related monitoring and modeling, supporting environmental recovery.
Taxpayers face increased federal spending through several new authorizations (totaling hundreds of millions across accounts), which could raise budgetary pressures or crowd out other priorities if appropriated.
Project cost‑share and non‑reimbursable federal assistance requirements (including caps and the need to provide the non‑Federal share) will disadvantage poorer communities, small utilities, and cash‑strained local governments that cannot raise matching funds.
New administrative requirements (feasibility determinations, stakeholder agreements, reporting, and statutory edits) and program conditions (multi‑benefit requirements) could lengthen timelines, raise project costs, and delay delivery of urgent projects.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Provides new and expanded Bureau of Reclamation grant programs for water conveyance, recycling, reuse, and environmental restoration, creates a Water Conveyance Improvement Program, increases authorized funding for multiple Reclamation programs for FY2028–FY2032, and requires the Bureau to identify and deauthorize federally authorized but unfunded Reclamation projects. It also sets expiration deadlines for certain Reclamation authorities and updates cost‑share and federal‑share ceilings for eligible projects. The bill defines eligible entities (States, Tribes, municipalities, districts, regional authorities, and joint powers agencies), authorizes $450 million for a revised conveyance/design/planning grant program and additional sums for recycling/reuse ($550M) and ecosystem restoration work ($250M) across FY2028–FY2032, and establishes procedures and timelines for listing and deauthorizing inactive federal projects unless Congress or a project sponsor intervenes.