I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2656
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide grants for nitrate and
arsenic reduction projects, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL3, 2025
Mrs. T
ORRESof California (for herself and Mr. VALADAO) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide grants
for nitrate and arsenic reduction projects, 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 ‘‘Removing Nitrate and 4
Arsenic in Drinking Water Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. NITRATE AND ARSENIC REDUCTION GRANT PRO-6
GRAM. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Part E of the Safe Drinking 8
Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j et seq.) is amended by insert-9
ing after section 1459G the following: 10
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‘‘SEC. 1459H. NITRATE AND ARSENIC REDUCTION GRANT 1
PROGRAM. 2
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
‘‘(1) A
RSENIC REDUCTION PROJECT .—The term 4
‘arsenic reduction project’ means a project or activ-5
ity the primary purpose of which is to reduce the 6
concentration of arsenic in water for human con-7
sumption. 8
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-9
tity’ means— 10
‘‘(A) a community water system; 11
‘‘(B) a nontransient noncommunity water 12
system; 13
‘‘(C) a qualified nonprofit organization 14
with experience in nitrate or arsenic reduction, 15
as determined by the Administrator; and 16
‘‘(D) a municipality or State, interstate, or 17
intermunicipal agency, including a special-pur-18
pose unit of local government. 19
‘‘(3) N
ITRATE REDUCTION PROJECT .—The 20
term ‘nitrate reduction project’ means a project or 21
activity the primary purpose of which is to reduce 22
the concentration of nitrate in water for human con-23
sumption. 24
‘‘(4) L
OW-INCOME.—The term ‘low-income’, 25
with respect to assistance under subsection (b)(4), 26
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has such meaning as may be given the term by the 1
Governor of the State in which the eligible entity is 2
located, based upon the affordability criteria estab-3
lished by the State under section 1452(d)(3). 4
‘‘(5) N
ONTRANSIENT NONCOMMUNITY WATER 5
SYSTEM.—The term ‘nontransient noncommunity 6
water system’ means a noncommunity water system 7
that regularly serves at least 25 of the same persons 8
over a 6 month period, or more, per year. 9
‘‘(b) G
RANTPROGRAM.— 10
‘‘(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—Subject to the avail-11
ability of appropriations, the Administrator shall es-12
tablish a grant program to provide assistance to eli-13
gible entities for nitrate or arsenic reduction projects 14
in the United States. 15
‘‘(2) P
RECONDITION.—As a condition of receipt 16
of assistance under this subsection, an eligible entity 17
shall take steps to identify— 18
‘‘(A) the source of nitrate or arsenic, as 19
applicable, in the public water system that is 20
subject to human consumption; and 21
‘‘(B) the means by which the proposed ni-22
trate or arsenic reduction project would mean-23
ingfully reduce the concentration of nitrate or 24
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arsenic in water provided for human consump-1
tion by the applicable public water system. 2
‘‘(3) P
RIORITY APPLICATION .—In providing 3
grants under this subsection, the Administrator shall 4
give priority to an eligible entity that the Adminis-5
trator determines, based on affordability criteria es-6
tablished by the State under section 1452(d)(3), to 7
be a disadvantaged community and— 8
‘‘(A) has not been in compliance with the 9
maximum contaminant level of nitrate or ar-10
senic, as applicable, at any time during the 3- 11
year period preceding the date of submission of 12
the application of such eligible entity; or 13
‘‘(B) proposes to address nitrate or arsenic 14
levels, as applicable, in water for human con-15
sumption at a school, daycare, or other facility 16
that primarily serves children or other vulner-17
able human subpopulation described in section 18
1458(a)(1). 19
‘‘(4) L
OW-INCOME ASSISTANCE.—An eligible en-20
tity may use a grant provided under this subsection 21
to purchase and install treatment technology that re-22
duces the amount of nitrate or arsenic, as applica-23
ble, in drinking water, with first priority given to as-24
sisting disadvantaged communities based on the af-25
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fordability criteria established by the applicable 1
State under section 1452(d)(3), low-income home-2
owners, and landlords or property owners providing 3
housing to low-income renters. 4
‘‘(c) L
IMITATION ONUSE OFFUNDS.—Not more 5
than 4 percent of funds made available for grants under 6
this section may be used to pay the administrative costs 7
of the Administrator. 8
‘‘(d) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 9
is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 10
‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; and 11
‘‘(2) $15,000,000 for each fiscal year there-12
after.’’. 13
(b) R
EVIEW.—The Administrator of the Environ-14
mental Protection Agency shall conduct a review on the 15
extent the nitrate and arsenic reduction grant program 16
under the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j et 17
seq.), as added by subsection (a), takes into consideration 18
equity to improve equity outcomes, including taking into 19
consideration the diverse needs of economically disadvan-20
taged and underserved populations. 21
Æ
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