Sponsors (6)
The bill provides substantial, predictable federal investment and stronger health, equity, and tribal supports for water infrastructure, but does so with large taxpayer costs, greater federal centralized authority, implementation risks, and potential financial/administrative burdens for small communities and some utilities.
Rural, Tribal, and local communities will receive stable, predictable annual federal funding that enables more water and wastewater construction and repairs and helps leverage state/local or private investment.
Households (including schoolchildren and households on private wells) will gain safer drinking water through grants for lead service line replacement, school water infrastructure upgrades, PFAS treatment or filtration, and other drinking-water protections.
Low-income individuals and other vulnerable households will get more affordability and equity protections through higher shares of subsidization, EPA guidance to prevent disconnections, and data-driven targeting to reach those without service.
Federal taxpayers will face substantially higher federal outlays (tens of billions annually) to finance expanded grants, free lead-line replacements, and increased set-asides.
State and local governments and communities may lose flexibility and congressional oversight because authority and program implementation are concentrated in the EPA Administrator and some funding is moved outside annual appropriations.
Rapid obligation mandates, short report deadlines, and ambiguous terms risk rushed or uneven implementation, creating administrative burdens and lowering project selection quality for states and localities.
Based on analysis of 16 sections of legislative text.
Directs large annual Treasury transfers for water programs, expands SRF uses (system purchases, lead/PFAS remediation, subsidization), and requires an EPA study on affordability and civil-rights issues.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Bernard Sanders · Last progress May 13, 2025
Provides large, dedicated annual federal transfers to support water, sewer, and sanitation infrastructure and changes how state revolving funds (SRFs) and other federal water programs can be used. It directs specific sums to be transferred from the Treasury and obligates the EPA, USDA, and HHS (Indian Health Service) to use those funds for grants, capitalization of SRFs, rural water projects, and other eligible activities, and it expands eligible uses to include buying privately owned systems, canceling operations contracts, lead service line replacement at no cost to property owners, and PFAS response actions. Requires the EPA to study affordability, civil-rights issues, service disconnections, and public participation in regionalization and report to Congress within one year; increases minimum subsidization and tribal set-asides in some SRF programs; preserves prevailing-wage rules and encourages the use of project labor agreements; and adds programmatic rules and accounting guidance to promote affordable, equitable, transparent, and reliable water service.