II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1019
To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to establish
an emergency preparedness and response technical assistance program
to assist entities that operate rural water or wastewater systems in
preparing for and responding to natural or manmade disasters.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH13, 2025
Ms. C
ORTEZMASTO(for herself and Mrs. HYDE-SMITH) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development
Act to establish an emergency preparedness and response
technical assistance program to assist entities that oper-
ate rural water or wastewater systems in preparing for
and responding to natural or manmade disasters.
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 ‘‘Rural Water System 4
Disaster Preparedness and Assistance Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE 1
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 2
Section 306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 3
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)) is amended by add-4
ing at the end the following: 5
‘‘(27) E
MERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND RE -6
SPONSE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM .— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 8
establish an emergency preparedness and re-9
sponse technical assistance program to provide 10
grants to eligible entities to assist associations 11
described in paragraph (1) that operate rural 12
water or wastewater systems in preparing for 13
and responding to natural or manmade disas-14
ters, as determined by the Secretary. 15
‘‘(B) E
LIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligi-16
ble to receive a grant under subparagraph (A) 17
is a nonprofit organization that— 18
‘‘(i) has demonstrated experience pro-19
viding emergency technical assistance for 20
disaster preparation, recovery, and re-21
sponse activities to water and wastewater 22
utilities nationwide; and 23
‘‘(ii) has the capacity to deploy per-24
sonnel that possess— 25
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‘‘(I) an active water or waste-1
water system operators’ license; or 2
‘‘(II) knowledge of water and 3
wastewater utilities necessary to carry 4
out activities described in subpara-5
graph (C). 6
‘‘(C) E
LIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—An eligible 7
entity that receives a grant under subparagraph 8
(A) shall use the grant— 9
‘‘(i) to provide onsite personnel and 10
equipment to assist with water and waste-11
water systems in the event of a disaster; 12
‘‘(ii) to coordinate with statewide 13
emergency response networks to assist with 14
water and wastewater systems; 15
‘‘(iii) to facilitate the development of 16
disaster action plans between associations 17
described in subparagraph (A), units of 18
local government, the Federal Emergency 19
Management Agency, and State emergency 20
management agencies; 21
‘‘(iv) to improve resiliency and mitiga-22
tion planning with respect to water or 23
wastewater systems; 24
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‘‘(v) to provide geographic information 1
system mapping of water and wastewater 2
systems; 3
‘‘(vi) to prepare or update predisaster 4
vulnerability assessments, emergency re-5
sponse plans, communication protocols, or 6
hazard recognition and evaluation skills 7
with respect to water and wastewater sys-8
tems; 9
‘‘(vii) to conduct preliminary damage 10
assessments of critical infrastructure in the 11
event of a disaster; 12
‘‘(viii) to provide emergency services 13
with respect to water and wastewater sys-14
tems to restore service in the event of a 15
disaster, including— 16
‘‘(I) pump and motor evaluation 17
and repair; 18
‘‘(II) water disinfection and 19
flushing; 20
‘‘(III) leak detection; 21
‘‘(IV) line repair; 22
‘‘(V) water main and valve loca-23
tion; 24
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‘‘(VI) emergency power genera-1
tion; 2
‘‘(VII) bypass pumping; 3
‘‘(VIII) water treatment; and 4
‘‘(IX) maintaining safety meas-5
ures; 6
‘‘(ix) to address outstanding defi-7
ciencies focused on resolving health-based 8
regulatory, operational, financial, and man-9
agerial deficiencies that impact the sus-10
tainability of water and wastewater sys-11
tems; 12
‘‘(x) to assist with application and re-13
porting requirements for Federal and State 14
agencies, including the Federal Emergency 15
Management Agency and insurance recov-16
ery claims, with respect to water and 17
wastewater systems; and 18
‘‘(xi) to provide for disaster prepara-19
tion, support, and response activities tar-20
geted to disadvantaged communities that 21
lack the financial resources and human 22
capital necessary to adequately address 23
significant health, safety, or sanitary con-24
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cerns with respect to the water and waste-1
water systems of those communities. 2
‘‘(D) U
SE OF FUNDS.— 3
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—An eligible entity 4
that receives a grant under subparagraph 5
(A) may use the grant for salaries, sup-6
plies, and expenses relating to the activities 7
described in subparagraph (C). 8
‘‘(ii) L
IMITATION.—Not more than 25 9
percent of the amount of a grant under 10
subparagraph (A) may be used to purchase 11
or reimburse the rental costs of appro-12
priate emergency equipment, as determined 13
by the Secretary. 14
‘‘(E) R
ESTRICTION.—An eligible entity 15
that receives a grant under subparagraph (A) 16
may not use the grant funds to pay for eligible 17
activities for which the eligible entity receives 18
other Federal funds. 19
‘‘(F) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA -20
TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 21
to carry out this paragraph $20,000,000 for 22
each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.’’. 23
Æ
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