# 119-s-3738: MORE WATER Act

119-s-3738, MORE WATER Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-04).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3738
- As of: 2026-10-04
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-3738
- Congress: 119
- Title: MORE WATER Act
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2026-01-29
- Sponsor: Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Water Resources Development
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-04

## 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. - 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.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Bigger recycling grants and higher caps: benefit, medium. 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 t…
- River and habitat restoration funding: benefit, low. 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, improv…
- Sunset rules and project deauthorizations: mixed, medium. 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…

## Related bills

- 119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-s-1462: Fix Our Forests Act
- 119-s-5022: Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act
- 119-s-2838: Protecting Our Democracy Act
- 119-s-2819: Head Start for America's Children Act
- 119-s-5283: Momnibus Act

## Sources
- [119-s-3738 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/3738)

## Related
- [119-s-5066: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5066)
- [119-s-1462: Fix Our Forests Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1462)
- [119-s-5022: Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5022)
- [119-s-2838: Protecting Our Democracy Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2838)
- [119-s-2819: Head Start for America's Children Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2819)
- [119-s-5283: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5283)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3738 (as of 2026-10-04).