Title 42The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60

§10341 Findings

Title 42 › Chapter 109A— MEMBRANE PROCESSES RESEARCH › § 10341

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Congress says the Nation faces growing threats to its water supplies from higher demand, recurring droughts in Western States, pollution, and saltwater getting into groundwater. Many communities already have water with high salt or dangerous contaminants that can harm health. Congress says the country needs affordable ways to clean these waters and more research into membrane treatment methods to reclaim wastewater and turn salty or polluted water into water usable for cities, industry, farms, and recreation. It notes little Federal funding goes to basic membrane research and that membrane treatment can help meet the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §10341

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Congress finds that—
(1)there is an increasing threat of impairment to the quantity and quality of the Nation’s water resources due to, among other things, growing national needs, recurring drought in the Western States, point and nonpoint source pollution, and saltwater intrusion into existing groundwater supplies;
(2)many communities in the United States have water supplies containing high salinity levels or contaminants which pose health risks;
(3)the Nation needs to develop economical processes to treat existing water supplies that are contaminated;
(4)it is necessary to provide for research into new techniques to reclaim waste water and to convert saline and other contaminated waters to a quality suitable for municipal, industrial, agricultural, recreational, and other beneficial uses;
(5)there is very little Federal funding being applied to basic research in the field of treatment of contaminated water through membrane processes; and
(6)the treatment of contaminated water through membrane processes will solve a wide variety of water treatment problems, including compliance with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act [33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.] and the Safe Drinking Water Act [42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.].

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, referred to in par. (6), is act June 30, 1948, ch. 758, as amended generally by Pub. L. 92–500, § 2, Oct. 18, 1972, 86 Stat. 816, which is classified generally to chapter 26 (§ 1251 et seq.) of Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1251 of Title 33 and Tables. The Safe Drinking Water Act, referred to in par. (6), is title XIV of act July 1, 1944, as added Dec. 16, 1974, Pub. L. 93–523, § 2(a), 88 Stat. 1660, which is classified generally to subchapter XII (§ 300f et seq.) of chapter 6A of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 201 of this title and Tables.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

Pub. L. 102–490, § 1, Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 3142, provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Membrane Processes Research Act of 1992’.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 10341

Title 42The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60