Water Systems Council (WSC) and its members scored a huge victory earlier this month when Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, included all of WSC’s suggested improvements to the Rural Decentralized Water System in the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act – also known as the Farm Bill. The 94-page bill released by Chairwoman Stabenow explicitly outlines the inclusion of WSC’s priorities in Sec. 6413, Rural Decentralized Water Systems.

Specifically, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act includes the following provisions advocated by WSC over the past year and at our most recent Fly-In:

• Allows Sub-grants (loans) to individuals of up to $25,000 –we are currently limited to sub-grants (loans) of $15,000.
• Includes WSC-recommended adjustments to eligibility requirements based on percentage of nonmetropolitan household income.
• Allows eligible entities to use up to 10% of the grant to provide technical assistance and support relating to the maintenance and support of household decentralized water systems. This represents critical Federal investment in WSC’s future work. For example, a $2M grant to the Water Well Trust from the USDA through this program would allow up to $200,000 of the grant to be used for our technical assistance functions. We will pursue at least a $2M grant under the Rural Decentralized Water Systems Program annually.
• Authorizes $100M ($20M annually) over the next five years for the Rural Decentralized Water Systems Program.

WSC is well-positioned to have our rural drinking water provisions included in the Farm Bill that ultimately reaches the President’s desk later this year. This was made possible by all those (including SCGWA's Mike Gill, Jay Swearingen, and Jason Garcia) who knocked on the doors of Congress with these asks during the 2024 WSC Spring Fly-In back in March!