Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act of 2015

Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act of 2015

This bill requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish the Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Program to provide grants in each of FY2016-FY2020 for programs or projects to increase the resiliency or adaptability of water systems to any ongoing or forecasted changes to the hydrologic conditions of a U.S. region. A water system is a community water system, a treatment works, a decentralized wastewater treatment system for domestic sewage, a groundwater storage and replenishment system, a system for transport and delivery of water for irrigation or conservation, or a natural or engineered system that manages floodwaters.

The EPA must give priority to owners or operators of water systems that are at the greatest and most immediate risk of facing significant negative impacts due to changing hydrologic conditions.

The EPA must ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that the list of grant applications funded includes a substantial number that propose to utilize innovative approaches that meet at least one of these goals:

• promote more efficient water use, conservation, reuse, or recycling;
• use decentralized, low-impact development technologies and nonstructural approaches;
• reduce stormwater runoff or flooding by protecting or enhancing natural ecosystem functions;
• modify, upgrade, enhance, or replace existing water system infrastructure in response to changing hydrologic conditions;
• improve water quality or quantity for agricultural and municipal uses; and
• provide multiple benefits, including water supply enhancement or demand reduction, water quality protection or improvement, increased flood protection, and ecosystem protection or improvement.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov