PRINTER'S NO. 2833
No. 2120 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY LEWIS, BELFANTI, BUNT, COLEMAN, CREIGHTON,
DeWEESE, FREEMAN, GRUCELA, HERMAN, HORSEY, JAMES, PETRARCA,
SOLOBAY, STABACK, STEELMAN, STERN, E. Z. TAYLOR, THOMAS,
TIGUE, WILT, WOJNAROSKI AND YOUNGBLOOD, NOVEMBER 13, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS,
NOVEMBER 13, 2001
AN ACT
1 Authorizing the Department of Agriculture to make grants to
2 nonprofit organizations that assist certain individuals to
3 obtain financing for the construction, refurbishing and
4 servicing of individually owned household water well systems
5 in rural areas.
6 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
7 (1) Affordable access to safe, reliable drinking water
8 is in the public interest.
9 (2) Centralized water systems are not always the most
10 cost-efficient way to deliver safe, reliable drinking water
11 to rural customers.
12 (3) Approximately 10,000,000 households in the United
13 States receive drinking water from household water well
14 systems.
15 (4) According to a national survey, more than 80% of
16 those well owners express a preference for water from their
17 household water well system over water from a community
18 drinking water system or bottled water.
1 (5) Many consumers and farms in the United States
2 receive drinking water from older household water well
3 systems that are not constructed to current standards.
4 (6) Those systems should be upgraded to ensure consumer
5 and farm access to the safest and most reliable sources of
6 drinking water.
7 (7) The Commonwealth has no program focused on funding
8 the construction, refurbishment or servicing of individually
9 owned household water well systems.
10 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
11 hereby enacts as follows:
12 Section 1. Short title.
13 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Affordable
14 Drinking Water Act.
15 Section 2. Definitions.
16 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
17 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
18 context clearly indicates otherwise:
19 "Department." The Department of Agriculture of the
20 Commonwealth.
21 "Eligible individual." An individual who is a member of a
22 household, the combined income of whose members for the most
23 recent 12-month period for which information is available is not
24 more than 100% of the median nonmetropolitan household income
25 for this Commonwealth, according to the most recent decennial
26 census of the United States.
27 Section 3. Grants.
28 The department may make from any funds appropriated or made
29 available to the department grants to private nonprofit
30 organizations for the purpose of assisting eligible individuals
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1 in obtaining financing for the construction, refurbishment and
2 servicing of individual household drinking water well systems in
3 rural areas that are owned or to be owned by the eligible
4 individuals. The department shall determine the amount of the
5 grants and the procedure for making application for the grants.
6 Section 4. Use of funds.
7 A grant under this act may be:
8 (1) used or invested to provide income to be used to
9 carry out the purpose set forth in section 3; or
10 (2) used to pay administrative expenses associated with
11 providing the assistance set forth in section 3.
12 Section 5. Priority.
13 In awarding grants under this act, the department shall give
14 priority to an applicant that has substantial expertise and
15 experience in promoting the safe and productive use of
16 individually owned household water well systems and ground
17 water.
18 Section 6. Regulations.
19 The department may promulgate such rules and regulations as
20 necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
21 Section 7. Effective date.
22 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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