42 U.S.C. § 300j–19h — Advanced drinking water technologies

(a) Study. Subject to available funding, within 1 year of November 15, 2021, the EPA must study existing and possible future technology — including technology that could address cybersecurity risks — that improves or could improve the treatment, monitoring, affordability, efficiency, and safety of drinking water from public water systems. The EPA must report the study's results to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (b) Advanced drinking water technology grant program. Here, an "eligible entity" is the owner or operator of a public water system that serves either no more than 100,000 people or a community described in section 300j–19a(c)(2) (a disadvantaged community), and that has identified, or plans to identify, and has expressed interest in, opportunities to use new, existing, or emerging (but proven) technologies — including ones addressing cybersecurity — to improve treatment, monitoring, affordability, efficiency, or safety, even technologies not covered in the study from (a). The EPA must run a competitive grant program awarding grants to these entities to identify or deploy such technologies. To apply, an entity submits an application as the EPA requires. Normally the federal share of a project's cost can't exceed 90 percent, but the EPA can raise that to 100 percent if the entity can't afford, or would face serious hardship paying, its share. Starting 2 years after the first grant is awarded, and every year after, the EPA must report to Congress on that year's grant recipients and a summary of what the grants funded. Congress could spend $10,000,000 a year on this program for fiscal years 2022 through 2026, available until spent, with no more than 2 percent going to the EPA's administrative costs.