Final week, Rep. John Duarte (R – Modesto) introduced the bipartisan Water Infrastructure Modernization Act to build federal grant applications aimed at escalating the use of wise water technologies. 

Duarte teamed up with Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego to author the bill. 

The massive image: The Water Infrastructure Modernization Act would supply $50 million in new EPA funding for grants which water utilities can use to acquire and implement new technologies. 

• Such technologies contains identifying water loss, examining pipe integrity, detecting leaks, preparing for extreme climate and innovating water storage systems, amongst other individuals. 

• The grants would be dished out in two applications more than a 5-year period. 

By the numbers: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, aging and outdated infrastructure leads to the loss of two.1 trillion gallons of treated drinking water and 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage nationwide annually. 

• These infrastructure troubles served as the driving force behind Duarte and Gallego creating the bill. 

Go deeper: The grant applications would set aside 20 % of the funds for communities that have a maximum of ten,000 men and women. Yet another ten % would be set aside for Tribal communities. 

What they’re saying: “I believe it is pretty low-effect improvements that could yield an added million acre feet of water for California, which is a massive deal,” Duarte mentioned. “Today, with the very same infrastructure we had in location 20 years ago, we’re basically delivering two.five million acre feet significantly less water than we made use of to. So hopefully with the new technologies we can get back at least closer to exactly where we had been.” 

• Duarte mentioned he is delighted to cross the aisle and companion with Gallego on the bill to perform on “sensible options to raise our water availability.” 
• “It’s $50 million,” Duarte mentioned. “It’s not going to make completely new dams, but each in his district and my district we’ve got a lot of infrastructure that just desires to be upgraded. We need to have to apply some technologies. There’s a lot of flow technologies, automated weirs that can increase the efficiency.”