S 914 Reported in Senate – Water Systems Reauthorization

Earlier this week the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee adopted substitute language for S 914, the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021, and ordered the bill reported favorably without a written report. The reported version of this bill is now available.

The only major change made to the bill was the insertion of a new §109, Rural and low-income drinking water assistance pilot program. A number of word and editorial changes were made in the language of the bill. Of interest here is the replacement of the term ‘cybersecurity threat’ with ‘cybersecurity vulnerabilities’. That change was made everywhere the original term was used. Neither term was defined in the bill.

This bill received strong bipartisan support in Committee and I expect that it will move quickly to the floor of the Senate. It will be interesting to see if it is considered under the Senate’s unanimous consent process or if it will be brought up under the ‘normal’ debate and amend process.