[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3143 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3143
To provide for a smart water resource management pilot program.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 21, 2015
Mr. McNerney (for himself and Mr. Kinzinger of Illinois) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space,
and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for a smart water resource management pilot program.
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 ``Smart Energy and Water Efficiency
Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. SMART ENERGY AND WATER EFFICIENCY PILOT PROGRAM.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means--
(A) a utility;
(B) a municipality;
(C) a water district; and
(D) any other authority that provides water,
wastewater, or water reuse services.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Energy.
(3) Smart energy and water efficiency pilot program.--The
term ``smart energy and water efficiency pilot program'' or
``pilot program'' means the pilot program established under
subsection (b).
(b) Smart Energy and Water Efficiency Pilot Program.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish and carry
out a smart energy and water efficiency management pilot
program in accordance with this section.
(2) Purpose.--The purpose of the smart energy and water
efficiency pilot program is to award grants to eligible
entities to demonstrate advanced and innovative technology-
based solutions that will--
(A) increase and improve the energy efficiency of
water, wastewater, and water reuse systems to help
communities across the United States make significant
progress in conserving water, saving energy, and
reducing costs;
(B) support the implementation of innovative
processes and the installation of advanced automated
systems that provide real-time data on energy and
water; and
(C) improve energy and water conservation, water
quality, and predictive maintenance of energy and water
systems, through the use of Internet-connected
technologies, including sensors, intelligent gateways,
and security embedded in hardware.
(3) Project selection.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall make
competitive, merit-reviewed grants under the pilot
program to not less than 3, but not more than 5,
eligible entities.
(B) Selection criteria.--In selecting an eligible
entity to receive a grant under the pilot program, the
Secretary shall consider--
(i) energy and cost savings anticipated to
result from the project;
(ii) the innovative nature, commercial
viability, and reliability of the technology to
be used;
(iii) the degree to which the project
integrates next-generation sensors, software,
hardware, analytics, and management tools;
(iv) the anticipated cost-effectiveness of
the pilot project in terms of energy efficiency
savings, water savings or reuse, and
infrastructure costs averted;
(v) whether the technology can be deployed
in a variety of geographic regions and the
degree to which the technology can be
implemented on a smaller or larger scale,
including whether the technology can be
implemented by each type of eligible entity;
(vi) whether the technology has been
successfully deployed elsewhere;
(vii) whether the technology is sourced
from a manufacturer based in the United States;
and
(viii) whether the project will be
completed in 5 years or less.
(C) Applications.--
(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), an
eligible entity seeking a grant under the pilot
program shall submit to the Secretary an
application at such time, in such manner, and
containing such information as the Secretary
determines to be necessary.
(ii) Contents.--An application under clause
(i) shall, at a minimum, include--
(I) a description of the project;
(II) a description of the
technology to be used in the project;
(III) the anticipated results,
including energy and water savings, of
the project;
(IV) a comprehensive budget for the
project;
(V) the names of the project lead
organization and any partners;
(VI) the number of users to be
served by the project; and
(VII) any other information that
the Secretary determines to be
necessary to complete the review and
selection of a grant recipient.
(4) Administration.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 300 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall
select grant recipients under this section.
(B) Evaluations.--The Secretary shall annually
carry out an evaluation of each project for which a
grant is provided under this section that--
(i) evaluates the progress and impact of
the project; and
(ii) assesses the degree to which the
project is meeting the goals of the pilot
program.
(C) Technical and policy assistance.--On the
request of a grant recipient, the Secretary shall
provide technical and policy assistance to the grant
recipient to carry out the project.
(D) Best practices.--The Secretary shall make
available to the public--
(i) a copy of each evaluation carried out
under subparagraph (B); and
(ii) a description of any best practices
identified by the Secretary as a result of
those evaluations.
(E) Report to congress.--The Secretary shall submit
to Congress a report containing the results of each
evaluation carried out under subparagraph (B).
(c) Funding.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall use not less than
$7,500,000 of amounts made available to the Secretary to carry
out this section.
(2) Prioritization.--In funding activities under this
section, the Secretary shall prioritize funding in the
following manner:
(A) The Secretary shall first use any unobligated
amounts made available to the Secretary to carry out
the activities of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy Office.
(B) After any amounts described in subparagraph (A)
have been used, the Secretary shall then use any
unobligated amounts (other than those described in
subparagraph (A)) made available to the Secretary.
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