This bill amends the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to participate in projects to benefit eligible communities through projects to:
capture and treat wastewater and to distribute recycled water from a new mixed-use development that cannot otherwise be economically provided recycled water from one or more existing water reclamation plants and recycled water distribution systems; adjust or forego a portion of facility capacity or connection fees otherwise paid by the property owner to a regional water agency that imports out-of-basin water supplies; and/or extend local recycled water distribution systems to properties adjacent to new mixed-use development. The bill defines "eligible communities" as communities:
in a state under a drought emergency declared by the governor, where water retailers have been directed by a state water resources control board to reduce consumption or use of potable water usage by 24% to 32%, and whose sanitation district has been directed by a regional water quality control board to reduce the discharge of chloride to comply with basin water quality standards. The Department of the Interior shall give priority to projects that:
will serve a region that has received federal authorization for projects associated with perchlorate remediation programs under the Bureau of Reclamation or the Army Corps of Engineers, will serve or are located in a region that has completed feasibility studies for perchlorate remediation efforts, and/or will serve a region where the regional water agency that imports out-of-basin water supplies has a wholesale area that includes a population of between 200,000 and 350,000. The federal share of the cost of such a project shall not exceed 25% of the total cost.