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

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

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

• Such technologies consists of 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By the numbers: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, aging and outdated infrastructure leads to the loss of two.1 trillion gallons of treated drinking water and 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage nationwide annually.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 concerns 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 folks. An additional ten % would be set aside for Tribal communities. 

What they’re saying: “I believe it is relatively low-influence improvements that could yield an further million acre feet of water for California, which is a major deal,” Duarte mentioned. “Today, with the identical infrastructure we had in spot 20 years ago, we’re basically delivering two.five million acre feet much less water than we employed to. So hopefully with the new technologies we can get back at least closer to exactly where we have been.” 

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