HR 4961 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Public Utility Remediation and Enhancement for Water Act
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program to provide grants to owners and operators of publicly owned treatment works for use complying with requirements regarding the treatment of emerging contaminants, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill establishes a federal grant program administered by the EPA to provide funding to municipal water treatment facilities for treating emerging contaminants, including perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The federal government would cover at least 75 percent of project costs, with the remaining costs covered by public or private sources and state water revolving funds. The bill authorizes $200 million per fiscal year from 2026 through 2028 for the grant program.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
10 cosponsors
- Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9] (D-TN)
- Rep. Deluzio, Christopher R. [D-PA-17] (D-PA)
- Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] (R-PA)
- Rep. Fletcher, Lizzie [D-TX-7] (D-TX)
- Rep. Huffman, Jared [D-CA-2] (D-CA)
- Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17] (R-NY)
- Rep. Levin, Mike [D-CA-49] (D-CA)
- Rep. McDonald Rivet, Kristen [D-MI-8] (D-MI)
- Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7] (D-AL)
- Rep. Stevens, Haley M. [D-MI-11] (D-MI)
Actions (3)
- Aug 13, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. · house
- Aug 12, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. · house
- Aug 12, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 12, 2025
Ms. Scholten (for herself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Huffman, and Mr. Lawler) 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 direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a program to provide grants to owners and operators of publicly owned treatment works for use complying with requirements regarding the treatment of emerging contaminants, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Public Utility Remediation and Enhancement for Water Act”.
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR TREATMENT OF EMERGING CONTAMINANTS.
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 new section:
“SEC. 228. EMERGING CONTAMINANTS.
“(a) In General.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Administrator shall establish a program under which the Administrator may award grants to an owner or operator of a publicly owned treatment works for use—
“(1) in the planning, design, and construction of treatment works to prevent, limit, or treat the discharge of a perfluoroalkyl substance, a polyfluoroalkyl substance, or any other emerging contaminant, as identified by the Administrator; or
“(2) complying with the requirements of a pretreatment standard or an effluent limitation under this Act that relates to the introduction or discharge of a perfluoroalkyl substance, a polyfluoroalkyl substance, or any other emerging contaminant, as identified by the Administrator.
“(b) Cost Sharing.—
“(1) Federal share.—The Federal share of the cost of activities carried out using grant funds awarded under subsection (a) shall be not less than 75 percent of the total estimated cost of such activities.
“(2) Non-federal share.—The applicable non-Federal share of the total estimated cost of such activities may include, in any amount, public and private funds and in-kind services, and may include, notwithstanding section 603(h), financial assistance, including loans, from a State water pollution control revolving fund.
“(c) Administrative Requirements.—
“(1) In general.—An activity carried out using grant funds awarded under subsection (a) shall be carried out subject to the same requirements as a project that receives assistance from a State water pollution control revolving fund under title VI, except to the extent that the Administrator determines that a requirement of title VI is inconsistent with the purposes of this section.
“(2) Limitation.—For the purposes of this subsection, the Administrator may not determine that a requirement of title VI relating to the application of section 513 or 608 are inconsistent with the purposes of this section.
“(d) Authorization of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this section $200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2028.”. <all>
Comments