Duarte pitches bipartisan bill to fund water technologies grants

Final week, Rep. John Duarte (R – Modesto) introduced the bipartisan Water Infrastructure Modernization Act to build federal grant applications aimed at growing the use of wise water technologies. 

Duarte teamed up with Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego to author the bill. 

The huge image: The Water Infrastructure Modernization Act would give $50 million in new EPA funding for grants which water utilities can use to buy and implement new technologies. 

• Such technologies incorporates identifying water loss, examining pipe integrity, detecting leaks, preparing for serious climate and innovating water storage systems, amongst other individuals. 

• The grants would be dished out in two applications more than a 5-year period. 

By the numbers: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, aging and outdated infrastructure leads to the loss of two.1 trillion gallons of treated drinking water and 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage nationwide annually. 

• These infrastructure challenges served as the driving force behind Duarte and Gallego building the bill. 

Go deeper: The grant applications would set aside 20 % of the funds for communities that have a maximum of ten,000 men and women. A further ten % would be set aside for Tribal communities. 

What they’re saying: “I consider it is pretty low-influence improvements that could yield an added million acre feet of water for California, which is a huge deal,” Duarte stated. “Today, with the identical infrastructure we had in spot 20 years ago, we’re essentially delivering two.five million acre feet significantly less water than we applied to. So hopefully with the new technologies we can get back at least closer to exactly where we had been.” 

• Duarte stated he is content to cross the aisle and companion with Gallego on the bill to perform on “sensible options to boost our water availability.” 
• “It’s $50 million,” Duarte stated. “It’s not going to construct completely new dams, but each in his district and my district we’ve got a lot of infrastructure that just requires to be upgraded. We have to have to apply some technologies. There’s a lot of flow technologies, automated weirs that can enhance the efficiency.”