Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced legislation to create a new federal grant program to assist communities with enhancing and updating their water infrastructure. The measure (S. 741), which is called "The Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act," would create a five-year, $50 million grant program managed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that would split the cost with local communities for a range of adaptation and upgrade activities.
The types of programs the measure would cover include those aimed at conserving water, modifying or relocating water infrastructure, improving water quality, designing or building water recycling systems, enhancing energy efficiency, building green infrastructure, improving irrigation efficiency on agricultural land and reducing flood risk by restoring wetlands and floodplains.