42 U.S.C. § 300g–9 — Capacity development

(a) State authority for new systems A state gets only 80 percent of the loan-fund allotment it would otherwise receive under section 300j–12, unless it has the legal authority or other tools to make sure that every new community water system, and every new nontransient noncommunity water system, that starts operating after October 1, 1999, can show technical, management, and financial capacity to meet every national primary drinking water regulation that's in effect — or likely to be in effect — when it starts up. (b) Systems in significant noncompliance (1) Starting no later than 1 year after August 6, 1996, each state must prepare, regularly update, and send the Administrator a list of community and nontransient noncommunity water systems with a history of significant rule-breaking (as defined by guidelines issued before August 6, 1996, or any later revisions made together with the states), and, where practical, the reasons for that noncompliance. (2) No later than 5 years after August 6, 1996, and as part of its capacity-development strategy, each state must report to the Administrator on how well its enforcement tools and early capacity-development efforts helped the listed systems improve their technical, management, and financial capacity. (3) This list and report count as part of the state's capacity-development strategy required under subsection (c), for purposes of the funding-withholding rule in section 300j–12(a)(1)(G)(i) (which concerns state loan funds). (c) Capacity development strategy (1) Starting 4 years after August 6, 1996, a state gets only a reduced share of its usual loan-fund allotment under section 300j–12 — 90 percent in fiscal year 2001, 85 percent in fiscal year 2002, and 80 percent in every fiscal year after that — unless it is developing and running a strategy to help water systems gain and keep technical, management, and financial capacity. (2) In writing this strategy, the state must consider, seek public comment on, and include as appropriate: (A) the methods it will use to identify and prioritize the systems most needing help building capacity; (B) a description of the federal, state, or local institutional, regulatory, financial, tax, or legal factors that help or hurt capacity-building; (C) a description of how the state will use this subchapter or other tools to (i) help systems comply with national rules, (ii) encourage partnerships between systems that build their combined capacity, and (iii) help train and certify operators; (D) how the state will set a baseline and measure improvements in capacity against national rules and state drinking water law; (E) who is involved in developing and running the strategy, including all relevant federal, state, and local government agencies, private and nonprofit water systems, and water-system customers; and (F) how the state will, as appropriate, (i) encourage systems to develop asset-management plans using best practices, and (ii) help — including through technical assistance — train operators and other relevant people to carry out those plans. (3) No later than 2 years after a state first adopts a capacity-development strategy, and every 3 years after that, the head of the state agency mainly responsible for this subchapter must send the governor a report — which must also be made public — on how well the strategy is working and what progress has been made improving systems' technical, management, and financial capacity, including efforts on asset-management plans and training. (4) A state's decisions under this section about any particular water system aren't subject to review by the Administrator, and can't be used as a reason to withhold funds under section 300j–12. (d) Federal assistance (1) The Administrator must support states in developing their capacity-development strategies. (2)(A) Within 180 days of August 6, 1996, the Administrator must (i) review existing state capacity-development efforts as of that date and publish information to help states and water systems with capacity development, and (ii) start a partnership with states, water systems, and the public to develop information on recommended operator-certification requirements. (B) The Administrator must publish the information from that partnership no later than 18 months after August 6, 1996. (3) Whenever the Administrator sets a new national primary drinking water regulation, the Administrator must include an analysis of how complying with it would likely affect water systems' technical, financial, and management capacity. (4) No later than 2 years after August 6, 1996, the Administrator must publish guidance, developed with the states, describing legal authorities and other tools to make sure new community and nontransient noncommunity systems show technical, management, and financial capacity. (5) No later than 5 years after October 23, 2018, and at least every 5 years after that, the Administrator must review and, if appropriate, update the educational materials — handbooks, training materials, and technical information — that the Administrator makes available to water system owners, managers, and operators, local officials, technical assistance providers (including nonprofit water associations), and state staff, on best practices for asset-management strategies. (e) Variances and exemptions Based on what it learns under (c)(3), the Administrator must, as appropriate, modify the variance and exemption regulations for small water systems to keep them flexible. Nothing in this subsection changes the actual requirements of section 300g–4 or 300g–5. (f) Small public water systems technology assistance centers (1) The Administrator can give grants to colleges and universities to set up and run small-water-system technology assistance centers. (2) These centers must handle training and technical assistance related to the information, performance, and technical needs of small water systems, including ones serving Indian Tribes. (3) Any interested college or university must apply to the Administrator, in whatever form and with whatever information the Administrator requires by regulation. (4) The Administrator picks grant recipients based on: (A) being in a state that represents its region's needs for addressing the drinking water needs of small and rural communities or Indian Tribes; (B) being in a region that has had, or could reasonably be expected to have, problems with small and rural water systems; (C) having access to expertise in small-system technology management; (D) being able to spread the results of small-system technology and training programs; (E) proposing projects that are necessary and appropriate; and (F) having regional support beyond just the host institution. (5) At least 2 of these grants must go to groups (consortia) of states with low population densities. (6) Congress authorized $2,000,000 per year for fiscal years 1997 through 1999, and $5,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2000 through 2003, for these grants. (g) Environmental finance centers (1) The Administrator must provide initial funding for one or more university-based environmental finance centers, to give technical assistance to state and local officials building water-system capacity. That money can only fund activities directly tied to this subchapter. (2) The Administrator must set up a national public water system capacity development clearinghouse to collect and share information on developing, improving, and maintaining financial and management capacity at water systems, while making sure it doesn't duplicate other federally supported clearinghouses. (3) The Administrator can ask a funded environmental finance center to develop and test management, financial, and institutional techniques for capacity development, including ways to assess capacity, rate models, capital-planning models, system-consolidation procedures, and regionalization models. (4) Congress authorized $1,500,000 per year for fiscal years 1997 through 2003 for this subsection. (5) None of this money may be used for lobbying expenses.