On Friday, Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, introduced House Resolution 2969, the Water System Adaptation Partnerships Act.

Joining her in introducing the bill were Reps. Russ Carnahan of Missouri, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania, Doris Matsui of California, Grace Napolitano of California, Jay Inslee of Washington, Jim Costa of California, Donna Edwards of Maryland and James Moran of Virginia.

The legislation would authorize a new Environmental Protection Agency program to offer competitive grant funds to help water systems prepare for the effects of climate change on their operations.

“As global climate change worsens, the nation’s water resources are coming under increasing levels of stress,” Capps said. “We are faced with melting snowpack in the Northwest, reduced river flows in the West, drought in the Southeast and rising sea levels along the coasts, including in my home district on the Central and South Coasts of California. All of this threatens the nation’s drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities. To ensure safe and uninterrupted water service and protect our communities, we must begin planning now. I have introduced the Water System Adaptation Partnerships Act to jump-start this critical planning.”

Capps and her colleagues worked closely with the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies and other drinking water and wastewater organizations to develop the legislation. Under the proposal, each year the EPA would solicit climate change adaptation projects from drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems, and award matching funds to those projects that will help utilities address the most significant climate-related risks and benefit the largest numbers of water users.

“Funding obtained by utilities through the Water System Adaptation Partnerships Act could be used by utilities to undertake water conservation and efficiency efforts, fund capital projects to develop new water supplies or improve water quality, and carry out utility-specific evaluations to estimate how climate change will impact their sustainability,” said Diane VanDe Hei, executive director of AMWA. “The bill also requires that these projects have a clear nexus with climate change. Utilities applying for funding will be required to cite available research describing a climate change-related risk, explain how the project would address that risk, and demonstrate that the project is consistent with state-level climate change adaptation plans.”

— Emily Kryder is the communications director for Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara.