# 119-s-4980: Water Emergency and Technical Assistance Act of 2026

119-s-4980, Water Emergency and Technical Assistance Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-10).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4980
- As of: 2026-09-10
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4980
- Congress: 119
- Title: Water Emergency and Technical Assistance Act of 2026
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-07-14
- Sponsor: Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Environmental Protection
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-10

## Summary

**Expands federal emergency aid for drinking water and wastewater and adds an explicit affordability test for ratepayers.** This bill widens who can get federal help during water system emergencies and raises the money available to respond, including for cybersecurity incidents. - Ratepayers and households: Requires decisionmakers to consider whether emergency actions are “economically feasible for ratepayers,” which factors local customer cost into whether federal help pays for certain emergency measures. - States and public treatment works: Creates a new Emergency Technical Assistance and Grants program that lets the Administrator provide technical help and grants to States or publicly owned treatment works to respond to emergencies, explicitly including cybersecurity events. Grants may fund only activities needed to prevent or limit danger to public health and that would not be economically feasible for ratepayers. - Federal programs and funding: Raises the Safe Drinking Water Act emergency authorization from $35.0 million per year (FY2022–2026) to $50.0 million per year for FY2027–2031 and authorizes $50.0 million per year for the new Clean Water Act emergency grants for FY2027–2031. The Administrator may coordinate this authority with other emergency programs without those programs’ limits capping the new amounts. *Authorizes $50.0 million per year for each program for FY2027–2031, increasing federal spending authority compared with prior law.*

## Cosponsors (1)

- Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] (D-MA), 2026-07-14T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- More federal help for water emergencies: benefit, medium. This bill would create a new federal program to give technical help and grants to States and publicly owned treatment works for water emergencies. Grants would cover emergencies the Administrator finds present substantial danger to public health, including cybersecurity events. Grants would only pa…

## Related bills

- 119-s-5071: Children's Safe Welcome Act of 2026
- 119-s-5022: Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act
- 119-s-2819: Head Start for America's Children Act
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act
- 119-s-5134: Green New Deal for Health Act

## Sources
- [119-s-4980 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4980)

## Related
- [119-s-5071: Children's Safe Welcome Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5071)
- [119-s-5022: Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5022)
- [119-s-2819: Head Start for America's Children Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2819)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823)
- [119-s-5134: Green New Deal for Health Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5134)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4980 (as of 2026-09-10).