This bill would establish a program within the Environmental Protection Agency to encourage and financially support participation by community water systems and treatment works in the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Water ISAC). It would offset costs necessary to maintain or start Water ISAC membership, and expand EPA’s cooperation with Water ISAC for incident data collection and analysis of water-sector threats.
The act also authorizes funding to implement the program and defines key terms used in the framework to anchor it to existing water-security law.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Administrator of the EPA must establish and run a program to encourage participation in Water ISAC, offset membership costs, expand cooperation with Water ISAC for incident data collection and analysis, and enhance Water ISAC’s tools to monitor the water sector and bolster preparedness against malevolent acts or natural hazards.
Who It Affects
Community water systems and treatment works seeking Water ISAC membership; Water ISAC members; EPA program offices and regional staff; publicly owned treatment works.
Why It Matters
This program integrates sector-specific threat intelligence with federal oversight to improve early warning, incident response, and resilience for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, addressing a critical public health and security need.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill would create a dedicated EPA program to help water utilities join the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Water ISAC) and cover some of the costs involved in joining or maintaining membership. By broadening participation, the EPA would gain access to better threat intelligence and incident data relevant to the water sector.
The act also directs EPA to work more closely with Water ISAC to collect and analyze data on water-sector threats, and to strengthen Water ISAC’s tools and resources so utilities can monitor conditions, detect threats, and respond to incidents more effectively. Funding of $10 million is authorized for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 to implement the program, with funds remaining available until expended.
The definitional section anchors key terms to related Safe Drinking Water Act provisions to ensure consistency with existing law.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill creates a federal program within the EPA to support Water ISAC membership for water systems.
Definitions anchor key terms to Safe Drinking Water Act sections to align with existing law.
The EPA Administrator must implement a program to encourage participation, offset costs, and expand data sharing with Water ISAC.
Funds: $10 million is authorized for FY 2026 and 2027, available until expended.
The focus is on monitoring and preparedness against malevolent acts and natural hazards for drinking water and wastewater systems.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Definitions
This section defines core terms used in the program: community water system (as defined in the Safe Drinking Water Act), natural hazard (per the Act’s cross-reference), treatment works, and Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center. These definitions anchor the program to established federal water-safety law and ensure consistent interpretation for implementation and data-sharing activities.
Program Establishment
The EPA Administrator must develop and carry out a program to (1) encourage participation of community water systems and treatment works in Water ISAC, (2) offset costs necessary to maintain or initiate Water ISAC membership, (3) expand EPA’s cooperation with Water ISAC for incident data collection and analysis, and (4) enhance Water ISAC’s tools and materials to monitor the water sector and bolster preparedness against malevolent acts or natural hazards.
Authorization of Appropriations
The bill authorizes $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 and 2027 to carry out Section 2, with the funds remaining available until expended. This funding supports program administration, membership offsets, and EPA-WISAC cooperation activities.
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Who Benefits
- Community water systems that participate in Water ISAC gain access to threat intelligence, resources, and membership offsets that help defray costs of joining.
- Publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) that join Water ISAC gain similar access and security clustering benefits.
- Water ISAC as an organization gains broader participation and funding to expand its intelligence-sharing capabilities.
- EPA Water Security program staff and regional offices benefit from improved data-sharing and coordinated responses.
- State drinking water programs benefit from enhanced incident data collection and analysis to inform oversight and support.
Who Bears the Cost
- Small and rural water systems may bear residual costs not fully offset by the program.
- Some membership or administrative costs borne by water utilities seeking to join Water ISAC.
- Water ISAC may incur expanded operational costs to accommodate increased membership and data-handling requirements.
- EPA administrative costs to implement and manage the program beyond the offsets provided.
- Taxpayers fund the authorized appropriations and bear overall cost of the program.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
Balancing the desire for broad, sustained water-sector threat intelligence sharing with the practical limits of federal funding and the risk of reliance on a single ISAC platform for critical infrastructure.
The bill ports a sector-specific information-sharing approach through Water ISAC, which relies on voluntary participation. A key tension is whether federal funding and cost offsets will be sufficient to achieve broad participation among diverse utilities, especially smaller or rural systems.
There is also a governance and security question about data sharing with a single information-sharing platform, including privacy and confidentiality considerations, and whether Water ISAC’s tools will scale to the entire water sector. Finally, the funding window is limited to 2026-2027, raising questions about long-term sustainability and whether subsequent appropriations or alternative funding would be required to maintain the program’s gains.
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