Sponsors (2)
The bill expands access to safe water and sanitation in rural areas by providing grants, loans, warranties, and using nonprofit intermediaries—improving health and infrastructure for many—but increases federal costs, may saddle moderate-income homeowners with debt, and risks uneven coverage or implementation uncertainty.
Low-income rural households (under 60% of area median) can receive subgrants to build or repair private household wells and decentralized wastewater systems, reducing upfront costs and improving access to safe water and sanitation.
Rural homeowners with incomes at or above 60% of area median can access loan financing through nonprofit intermediaries to install or refurbish wells and septic systems, expanding financing options for household water and sanitation improvements.
Grantees may include funding for at least a five-year performance warranty on decentralized wastewater systems, lowering repair risk and maintenance costs for homeowners and improving long-term system reliability.
Moderate-income rural homeowners (≥60% of area median) must rely on loans rather than grants, which could impose debt burdens on families seeking basic water and sanitation improvements.
Taxpayers may face increased federal spending to fund grants and program administration, depending on appropriations, raising budgetary costs.
Relying on nonprofit intermediaries could produce uneven geographic coverage if organizations are absent or under-resourced in some rural areas, leaving some residents without access to the program.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Authorizes USDA to fund nonprofits that provide loans and subgrants to rural households for constructing, repairing, and servicing private wells and decentralized wastewater systems with income-based grant eligibility and a 5-year warranty option.
Introduced March 12, 2026 by Terri Sewell · Last progress March 12, 2026
Authorizes USDA to make grants to private nonprofit organizations that will in turn provide loans and subgrants to rural households for building, refurbishing, and servicing individual household water wells and decentralized household wastewater systems. Grants (subgrants) are targeted to lower-income households (under 60% of the nonmetropolitan area median income), while loans go to households at or above that threshold, and the bill allows additional funding to cover a 5-year performance warranty for decentralized wastewater systems. The amendment rewrites the existing program text, adjusts an unclear numeric figure in the statute (text appears garbled in the provided draft), and makes one other unspecified edit; it does not specify new appropriations in the provided language, so actual funding levels and implementation details would follow in program guidance or future appropriation actions.