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Committee advances change to contaminants grant program to better align with Safe Drinking Water standards
Summary
Sen. Johnson Stewart offered amendments to expand eligibility and increase state grant share for the state's emerging-contaminants program, rename it to align with federal Safe Drinking Water standards and allow state grants in addition to federal funds; committee adopted an A1 amendment.
Sen. Johnson Stewart presented changes to the state's drinking-water grant program on April 16, proposing to increase the state share of eligible project costs from 50% to 80%, cap per-project grants at $12 million, and broaden program language so communities treating contaminants such as radium, arsenic, nitrates, pesticides and PFAS can access state assistance. The bill (Senate File 4362) and its A1 amendment were advanced in committee.
The sponsor said the amendment renames the program to better align with federal Safe Drinking Water language and, at the Department of Health’s request, would permit communities that also receive federal grants to access the full state grant amount rather than having federal awards count against the state share. "We wanted agencies receiving these grants to be able to fully use both federal and state dollars," Johnson Stewart said.
Chad Kolstad of the Public Facilities Authority, who worked on the amendment language, said many projects are lined up with federal funds and that state funds allocated last year are being encumbered; he confirmed much of the prior allocation will be used. MDH and PFA representatives said the changes are intended to help systems nearing the end of their useful life comply with existing federal rules and help medium-size systems that may not qualify for affordability programs.
The committee adopted the author's A1 amendment by voice vote and set the bill aside for possible inclusion in the omnibus package.
