I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2401
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Agriculture to maintain
the Urban Waters Federal Partnership Program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH27, 2025
Mr. S
TANTON(for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-
structure, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Resources, and
Appropriations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Sec-
retary of Agriculture to maintain the Urban Waters Fed-
eral Partnership Program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Urban Waters Federal 4
Partnership Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) A
DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-3
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ-4
mental Protection Agency. 5
(2) M
EMBER AGENCIES.—The term ‘‘member 6
agencies’’ means each of— 7
(A) the Environmental Protection Agency; 8
(B) the Department of the Interior; 9
(C) the Department of Agriculture; 10
(D) the Corps of Engineers; 11
(E) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 12
Administration; 13
(F) the Economic Development Adminis-14
tration; 15
(G) the Department of Housing and Urban 16
Development; 17
(H) the Department of Transportation; 18
(I) the Department of Energy; 19
(J) the Department of Education; 20
(K) the National Institute for Environ-21
mental Health Sciences; 22
(L) the Community Development Financial 23
Institutions Fund; 24
(M) the Federal Emergency Management 25
Agency; 26
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(N) the Corporation for National and 1
Community Service; and 2
(O) such other agencies, departments, and 3
bureaus that elect to participate in the Urban 4
Waters program as the missions, authorities, 5
and appropriated funding of those agencies, de-6
partments, and bureaus allow. 7
(3) S
ECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 8
means the Secretary of the Interior and the Sec-9
retary of Agriculture. 10
(4) U
RBAN WATERS AMBASSADOR .—The term 11
‘‘Urban Waters ambassador’’ means a person who— 12
(A) is locally based near the applicable 13
Urban Waters partnership location; and 14
(B) serves in a central coordinating role 15
for the work carried out in the applicable 16
Urban Waters partnership location with respect 17
to the Urban Waters program. 18
(5) U
RBAN WATERS NONPARTNERSHIP LOCA -19
TION.—The term ‘‘Urban Waters nonpartnership lo-20
cation’’ means an urban or municipal site and the 21
associated watershed or waterbody of the site— 22
(A) that receives Federal support for ac-23
tivities that advance the purpose of the Urban 24
Waters program; but 25
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(B)(i) that is not formally designated as an 1
Urban Waters partnership location; and 2
(ii) for which is not maintained— 3
(I) an active partnership with an 4
Urban Waters ambassador; or 5
(II) an Urban Waters partnership lo-6
cation workplan. 7
(6) U
RBAN WATERS PARTNERSHIP LOCATION .— 8
The term ‘‘Urban Waters partnership location’’ 9
means an urban or municipal site and the associated 10
watershed or waterbody of the site for which— 11
(A) the Administrator, in collaboration 12
with the heads of the other member agencies, 13
has formally designated as a partnership loca-14
tion under the Urban Waters program; and 15
(B) an active partnership with an Urban 16
Waters ambassador is maintained. 17
(7) U
RBAN WATERS PARTNERSHIP LOCATION 18
WORKPLAN.—The term ‘‘Urban Waters partnership 19
location workplan’’ means the plan for projects and 20
actions that is coordinated across an Urban Waters 21
partnership location. 22
(8) U
RBAN WATERS PROGRAM .—The term 23
‘‘Urban Waters program’’ means the program estab-24
lished under section 3(a). 25
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SEC. 3. URBAN WATERS FEDERAL PARTNERSHIP PRO-1
GRAM. 2
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—There is authorized a pro-3
gram, to be known as the ‘‘Urban Waters Federal Part-4
nership Program’’, administered by the partnership of the 5
member agencies— 6
(1) to jointly support and execute the goals of 7
the Urban Waters program through the independent 8
authorities and appropriated funding of the member 9
agencies; and 10
(2) to advance the purpose described in sub-11
section (b) within designated Urban Waters partner-12
ship locations and other urban and suburban com-13
munities in the United States. 14
(b) P
ROGRAMPURPOSE.—The purpose of the Urban 15
Waters program is to reconnect urban communities, par-16
ticularly urban communities that are overburdened or eco-17
nomically distressed, with associated waterways by im-18
proving coordination among Federal agencies. 19
(c) P
ROGRAMREQUIREMENTS.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of 21
appropriations, the Administrator, in coordination 22
with the Secretaries and, as appropriate, the heads 23
of the other member agencies, shall maintain the 24
Urban Waters program in accordance with this sub-25
section. 26
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(2) URBAN WATERS FEDERAL PARTNERSHIP 1
STEERING COMMITTEE .— 2
(A) E
STABLISHMENT.— 3
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator 4
shall establish a steering committee for the 5
Urban Waters program (referred to in this 6
paragraph as the ‘‘steering committee’’). 7
(ii) C
HAIR.—The Administrator shall 8
serve as chairperson of the steering com-9
mittee. 10
(iii) V
ICE-CHAIRS.—The Secretaries 11
shall serve as vice-chairpersons of the 12
steering committee. 13
(iv) M
EMBERSHIP.—In addition to the 14
Administrator and the Secretaries, the 15
members of the steering committee shall be 16
the senior officials (or their designees) 17
from such member agencies as the Admin-18
istrator shall designate. 19
(B) D
UTIES.—The steering committee 20
shall provide general guidance to the member 21
agencies with respect to the Urban Waters pro-22
gram, including guidance with respect to— 23
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(i) the identification of annual priority 1
issues for special emphasis within Urban 2
Waters partnership locations; and 3
(ii) the identification of funding op-4
portunities, which shall be communicated 5
to all Urban Waters partnership locations. 6
(C) I
NTERAGENCY FINANCING .—Notwith-7
standing section 1346 of title 31, United States 8
Code, section 708 of division E of the Consoli-9
dated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 10
116–260), or any other similar provision of law, 11
member agencies may— 12
(i) provide interagency financing to 13
the steering committee; and 14
(ii) directly transfer such amounts as 15
are necessary to support the activities of 16
the steering committee. 17
(3) A
UTHORITY.— 18
(A) P
ARTNERSHIP LOCATIONS .— 19
(i) P
ARTNERSHIP LOCATIONS .—The 20
Administrator and the Secretaries shall 21
maintain an active partnership program 22
under the Urban Waters program at each 23
Urban Waters partnership location, includ-24
ing each Urban Waters partnership loca-25
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tion in existence on the date of enactment 1
of this Act, by providing— 2
(I) technical assistance for 3
projects to be carried out within the 4
Urban Waters partnership location; 5
(II) funding for projects to be 6
carried out within the Urban Waters 7
partnership location; 8
(III) funding for an Urban 9
Waters ambassador for the Urban 10
Waters partnership location; and 11
(IV) coordination support with 12
other member agencies with respect to 13
activities carried out at the Urban 14
Waters partnership location. 15
(ii) N
EW PARTNERSHIP LOCATIONS .— 16
(I) I
N GENERAL.—The Adminis-17
trator and the Secretaries may, in 18
consultation with the heads of other 19
member agencies, establish new 20
Urban Waters partnership locations. 21
(II) N
ONPARTNERSHIP LOCA -22
TIONS.—A community with an Urban 23
Waters nonpartnership location may, 24
at the discretion of the community, 25
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seek to have the Urban Waters non-1
partnership location designated as an 2
Urban Waters partnership location. 3
(B) A
UTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.— 4
(i) D
EFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTI -5
TY.—In this subparagraph, the term ‘‘eli-6
gible entity’’ means— 7
(I) a State; 8
(II) a territory or possession of 9
the United States; 10
(III) the District of Columbia; 11
(IV) an Indian Tribe; 12
(V) a unit of local government; 13
(VI) a public or private institu-14
tion of higher education; 15
(VII) a public or private non-16
profit institution; 17
(VIII) an intertribal consortium; 18
(IX) an interstate agency; and 19
(X) any other entity determined 20
to be appropriate by the Adminis-21
trator. 22
(ii) A
CTIVITIES.—In carrying out the 23
Urban Waters program, a member agency 24
may— 25
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(I) encourage, cooperate with, 1
and render technical services to and 2
provide financial assistance to sup-3
port— 4
(aa) Urban Water ambas-5
sadors to conduct activities with 6
respect to the applicable Urban 7
Waters partnership location, in-8
cluding— 9
(AA) convening the ap-10
propriate Federal and non- 11
Federal partners for the 12
Urban Waters partnership 13
location; 14
(BB) developing and 15
carrying out an Urban 16
Waters partnership location 17
workplan; 18
(CC) leveraging avail-19
able Federal and non-Fed-20
eral resources for projects 21
within the Urban Waters 22
partnership location; and 23
(DD) sharing informa-24
tion and best practices with 25
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the Urban Waters Learning 1
Network established under 2
subparagraph (C); and 3
(bb) an eligible entity in car-4
rying out— 5
(AA) projects at Urban 6
Water partnership locations 7
that provide habitat or 8
water quality improvements, 9
increase river recreation, en-10
hance community resiliency, 11
install infrastructure, 12
strengthen community en-13
gagement with and edu-14
cation with respect to water 15
resources, or support plan-16
ning, coordination, and exe-17
cution of projects identified 18
in the applicable Urban 19
Waters partnership location 20
workplan; and 21
(BB) planning, re-22
search, experiments, dem-23
onstrations, surveys, studies, 24
monitoring, training, and 25
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outreach to advance the pur-1
pose described in subsection 2
(b) within Urban Waters 3
partnership locations and in 4
Urban Waters nonpartner-5
ship locations; and 6
(II) transfer funds to or enter 7
into interagency agreements with 8
other member agencies as necessary 9
to carry out the Urban Waters pro-10
gram. 11
(C) U
RBAN WATERS LEARNING NET -12
WORK.—The Administrator and the Secretaries 13
shall maintain an Urban Waters Learning Net-14
work— 15
(i) to share information, resources, 16
and tools between Urban Waters partner-17
ship locations and with other interested 18
communities; and 19
(ii) to carry out community-based ca-20
pacity building that advances the goals of 21
the Urban Waters program. 22
(D) W
ORKPLAN PROGRESS .—Progress in 23
addressing the goals of the Urban Waters part-24
nership location workplan of an Urban Waters 25
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partnership location shall be shared with the 1
Urban Waters program at regular intervals, as 2
determined by the Administrator and the Secre-3
taries. 4
(d) R
EPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Administrator 5
and the Secretaries shall annually submit to the appro-6
priate committees of Congress a report describing the 7
progress in carrying out the Urban Waters program, 8
which shall include— 9
(1) a description of the use of funds under the 10
Urban Waters program; 11
(2) a description of the progress made in car-12
rying out Urban Waters partnership location 13
workplans; and 14
(3) any additional information that the Admin-15
istrator and the Secretaries determine to be appro-16
priate. 17
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 19
appropriated to the Administrator to carry out the 20
Urban Waters program $10,000,000 for each of fis-21
cal years 2026 through 2030. 22
(2) U
SE OF FUNDS .—Notwithstanding any 23
other provision of law, activities carried out using 24
amounts made available to the Administrator under 25
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paragraph (1) may be used in conjunction with 1
amounts made available from— 2
(A) other member agencies; and 3
(B) non-Federal entities that participate in 4
the Urban Waters program. 5
Æ
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