§2403 Rural Water Programs Assessment

Summary

The Secretary must make an assessment after talking with the heads of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Indian Health Service, Housing and Urban Development, and the Army. The assessment must describe the status of all rural water supply projects authorized but not finished before December 22, 2006 (including funding, development stage, total costs, and problems). It must also give the current plan to finish those projects (with projected money, workforce needs, and timing), the demand for new projects, how other agencies’ rural water programs support work in Reclamation States (rules, funding, and eligibility), how much demand the Secretary’s Program can meet, how the Program fits with other agencies’ authorities, and ways to better coordinate or combine agency activities. Before the assessment is final, the Secretary must get comments from States with rural water needs. Not later than 2 years after December 22, 2006, the Secretary must send a detailed report on the assessment to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Resources.