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119-s-3738119th CongressWALLET

MORE WATER Act

Sponsored By: Senator Padilla, Alex [D-CA]

In Committee

Summary

This bill would _expand federal support for water recycling and multi‑benefit conveyance projects_ and would create a Bureau of Reclamation Water Conveyance Improvement Program. It reauthorizes and raises funding limits for recycling and restoration while adding rules on cost sharing, stakeholder agreements, and a process to deauthorize inactive Reclamation projects.

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  • Families and low‑income communities: The bill prioritizes safe drinking water benefits and authorizes an extra 20% federal share for projects that deliver quantified, significant drinking water help for low‑income communities, including direct payments or support for ratepayer assistance.
  • Project sponsors and non‑Federal entities: Federal dollars would generally cover no more than 50% of project costs and projects at or above $800 million must be multi‑benefit. The text sets up a Water Conveyance Improvement Program with stakeholder agreements, feasibility checks, and a new deauthorization process for inactive projects.
  • Environment, Tribes, and restoration partners: It authorizes new recycling and reuse funding and targeted habitat work, including figures of $550.0 million for recycling projects and $250.0 million for habitat and restoration for FY2028–2032, with specific actions for the Great Salt Lake and the Sacramento River systems.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

Bigger recycling grants and higher caps

This bill would raise the federal per‑project cap for water recycling to $50,000,000 measured in December 2025 dollars. The cap would increase each January by the prior year's CPI‑U change. It would also increase program numeric limits (raising one limit from 5 to 10 and another threshold from 30 to 60) and let grants pay for feasibility studies as well as construction. These changes would make larger recycling projects and more project types eligible for federal help.

Sunset rules and project deauthorizations

This bill would make certain prior WIIN Act amendments expire 15 years after enactment. The Interior Department would have to publish an interim list of authorized but unfunded Reclamation projects within 1 year. A final list would follow within 1 year after the interim list. Projects on the final list would be automatically deauthorized 2 years after that final list unless Congress blocks it, Congress funds the project, or a non‑Federal sponsor pays to finish it.

River and habitat restoration funding

This bill would authorize the Interior Department to fund habitat and river restoration work for fiscal years 2028 through 2032. Authorized activities include Great Salt Lake and inland saline lake restoration (in Utah only at the State's request), gravel and rearing area work, fish passage, improved real‑time monitoring and temperature modeling, hatchery modernization, and related planning, studies, and construction.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Padilla, Alex [D-CA]

CA • D

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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