Affordable Clean Water Infrastructure Act

More water bill help for rural systems

If enacted, States would be able to use federal capitalization grants to give extra subsidies that lower wastewater and stormwater bills. A State could set aside an additional 10% of its annual grant to target rural, small, and tribal publicly owned treatment works. If there are enough qualifying applications, the State would be required to use at least 20% of the grant for additional subsidization that year. The total extra subsidies a State could provide in a year would be capped at the greater of 50% of that year’s grant or the State’s 10-year annual average of excess State deposits; loans with interest rates equal to or above 0% would not count as additional subsidization, and subsidies may be applied to a whole project or to the project’s service area.