H.R. 5030 – Small and Rural Community Clean Water Technical Assistance Act

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Updated April 15, 2026 at 8:19 PM UTC

The Small and Rural Community Clean Water Technical Assistance Act amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to create a program that gives technical help to small and medium publicly owned wastewater treatment plants. It sets up grant funding for nonprofit groups that can train and advise plant owners, and lets states use a small portion of their existing water loan funds for the same purpose. The bill mainly helps communities that operate treatment works serving up to about 75,000 people.

Key Provisions

Defines “small treatment works” as publicly owned plants serving ≤10,000 people and “medium treatment works” as those serving 10,001‑75,000 people.
Creates Section 222 to provide grants or cooperative agreements to qualified nonprofit providers that deliver onsite assistance, circuit‑rider programs, regional training, and financing help to small treatment works.
Creates Section 223 to do the same for medium treatment works, allowing nonprofit providers (or state agencies) to offer technical assistance and preliminary engineering support.
Authorizes $15 million per fiscal year (2018‑2022) for small‑work assistance and $10 million per year (2018‑2022) for medium‑work assistance.
Amends the Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Fund rules so states may allocate an extra 2 percent of their annual fund to these nonprofit technical assistance providers for both small and medium treatment works.

Legislative Activity

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2 earlier actions

HouseCommittee Latest Action

Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee

February 16, 2018

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HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

February 15, 2018

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

February 15, 2018

HouseCommittee

Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee

February 16, 2018

Bill Text

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Introduced in HouseIssued February 15, 2018

I

115th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 5030

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 15, 2018

Mr. Harper introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide for technical assistance for small treatment works.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Small and Rural Community Clean Water Technical Assistance Act.

2.

Technical assistance for small treatment works

(a)

In general

Title II of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1281 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

222.

Technical assistance for small treatment works

(a)

Definitions

In this section:

(1)

Qualified nonprofit small treatment works technical assistance provider

The term qualified nonprofit small treatment works technical assistance provider means a nonprofit organization that, as determined by the Administrator—

(A)

is qualified and experienced in providing training and technical assistance to small treatment works; and

(B)

the small treatment works in the State finds to be the most beneficial and effective.

(2)

Small treatment works

The term small treatment works means a publicly owned treatment works serving not more than 10,000 individuals.

(b)

Technical assistance

The Administrator may use amounts made available to carry out this section to provide grants or cooperative agreements to qualified nonprofit small treatment works technical assistance providers to provide to owners and operators of small treatment works onsite technical assistance, circuit rider technical assistance programs, multi-State, regional technical assistance programs, and onsite and regional training, to assist the small treatment works in achieving compliance with this Act or obtaining financing under this Act for eligible projects.

(c)

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section for grants for small treatment works technical assistance, $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022.

223.

Technical assistance for medium treatment works

(a)

Definitions

In this section:

(1)

Medium treatment works

The term medium treatment works means a publicly owned treatment works serving not fewer than 10,001 and not more than 75,000 individuals.

(2)

Qualified nonprofit medium treatment works technical assistance provider

The term qualified nonprofit medium treatment works technical assistance provider means a qualified nonprofit technical assistance provider of water and wastewater services to medium-sized communities that provides technical assistance (including circuit rider technical assistance programs, multi-State, regional assistance programs, and training and preliminary engineering evaluations) to owners and operators of medium treatment works, which may include a State agency.

(b)

Technical assistance

The Administrator may use amounts made available to carry out this section to provide grants or cooperative agreements to qualified nonprofit medium treatment works technical assistance providers to provide to owners and operators of medium treatment works onsite technical assistance, circuit-rider technical assistance programs, multi-State, regional technical assistance programs, and onsite and regional training to assist medium treatment works that are facing difficulty in achieving compliance with this Act or obtaining financing under this Act for eligible projects.

(c)

Authorization of appropriations

There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2022.

.

(b)

Water pollution control revolving loan funds

(1)

In general

Section 603 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383) is amended—

(A)

in subsection (d)—

(i)

in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting and as provided in subsection (e) after State law;

(ii)

by redesignating subsections (e) through (i) as subsections (f) through (j), respectively; and

(iii)

by inserting after subsection (d) the following:

(e)

Additional use of funds

A State may use an additional 2 percent of the funds annually allotted to the State under this section for qualified nonprofit small treatment works technical assistance providers (as the term is defined in section 222) and qualified nonprofit medium treatment works technical assistance providers (as the term is defined in section 223) to provide technical assistance to small treatment works (as the term is defined in section 222) and medium treatment works (as the term is defined in section 223) in the State.

.

(2)

Conforming amendment

Section 221(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1301(d)) is amended by striking section 603(h) and inserting section 603(i).