Healthy H2O Act

Grants would cover a home water treatment unit, putting it in, and keeping it up. Replacement filters would be covered too.

Renters, homeowners, landlords with 25 units or fewer, and licensed child care centers would all count. The home or facility would have to be in a rural area.

In handing out grants, the Agriculture Department would have to favor homes on private wells. The bill says those homes face the worst water problems.

A grant could pay for a lab test of your tap water, with results going to you and the Agriculture Department. Nonprofit groups could also get grants to run tests and help you pick a filter.

Your household's income for the last 12 months would be measured against your state's median rural household income, taken from the last census. Above 150% of that, you would not qualify.

Only a licensed plumber or a trained water worker could do a paid install or service call. They would also have to keep taking water treatment classes.

A filter would count only if an outside group has tested and certified it against set safety standards. Grant money could buy those filters alone.

Each year the Agriculture Department would have to report on what is fouling rural drinking water. The list covers pipes, waste, and how crops and land are managed.

The report would go to Congress and to the public within a year, then every year after. It would list the types of filters used and how many water tests were done.

The bill would allow up to $10 million a year through 2029, and no longer. Congress would still have to vote the money each year.

The bill names four groups that may approve filters. One is the Water Quality Association, the trade group for water treatment companies.