Review - H 3490 Introduced – Smart Water Technology

Last month, Rep Gallego (D,AZ) introduced HR 3490, the Water Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2023. The bill would help upgrade and modernize the drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems of the United States and encourage the use of water-efficient technologies to address drought and prepare for the growing strain that population growth and climate change will have on over-allocated water supplies. The bill would authorize $50 million in funding through 2028 to support the programs outlined in the legislation.

The bill is similar in intent to HR 6088 (removed from paywall) which was introduced last session by Gallego. No action was taken in the 117^th Congress on that bill. This current bill is a complete rewrite of the earlier legislation.

Moving Forward

While Gallego is not a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for primary consideration, his sole cosponsor {Rep Duarte (R,CA)} is a member. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. This is a significant change from the potential for the consideration for HR 6088 in the last session. There will be little organized opposition to the technology supported by this bill, the $50 million (congressional small change) in authorizations are going to cause problems in an environment where the unofficial leadership of the House is trying to drastically cut spending. I will be surprised if this is taken up in Committee and do not expect this bill to come to the floor of the House.

Commentary

As with the earlier bill, there is no mention of protecting all of the smart technology being touted in the bill by cybersecurity measures. With the relatively small amount of money going to these grants, managers are going to try to pack as much tech as possible into their spending, so cybersecurity addons are going to be short shifted. In my post on HR 6088 I suggested cybersecurity language that could be added for the drinking water portion of the bill. I think that language is still appropriate.

 

For more details about the provisions of the proposed legislation, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/h-3490-introduced - subscription required.