To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to modify provisions relating to rural decentralized water systems grants.
Summary
What This Bill Does
H.R. 7921 revises the existing USDA rural decentralized water systems program. Current law allows nonprofit grantees to make loans and subgrants for individually owned household wells and decentralized wastewater systems to households at or below 60 percent of the applicable median nonmetropolitan income. The bill replaces that single eligibility category with two forms of assistance.
Households below 60 percent of area median nonmetropolitan income would receive subgrants. Households at or above 60 percent would receive loans. This expands loan eligibility above the current income ceiling but removes subgrant eligibility at exactly 60 percent. Assistance remains available only through participating private nonprofit organizations and for individually owned systems in rural service areas.
The maximum loan or subgrant rises from $15,000 to $20,000 per system. A subgrant for a decentralized wastewater system may include enough additional funding to buy a performance warranty lasting at least five years. The bill extends the existing authorization of $20 million per fiscal year by replacing the 2023 endpoint with 2031; it authorizes funding but does not itself appropriate the annual amount.
The current program already covers household wells, decentralized wastewater systems, loans, and subgrants. The bill therefore does not create those categories from scratch. It changes who receives a grant rather than a loan, raises the cap, adds optional warranty support, and renews the authorization period.
Who Benefits and How
Very-low-income rural households gain a clearer entitlement to subgrant treatment within a funded nonprofit program. Households above the prior income ceiling become eligible for low-interest program loans. Nonprofit intermediaries, well contractors, wastewater installers, and warranty providers may serve more or larger projects.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Households at exactly 60 percent of the income benchmark move from current eligibility for either form to the loan category. USDA and nonprofits must verify income, separate assistance types, update forms, and administer larger awards and warranties. Federal accounts bear any renewed appropriations, and more eligible borrowers can increase competition within a fixed annual authorization.
Key Provisions
- Preserves nonprofit delivery of household water assistance.
- Directs subgrants to households below 60 percent of area median income.
- Directs loans to households at or above 60 percent.
- Expands loan eligibility above the current income ceiling.
- Preserves individually owned rural well assistance.
- Preserves individually owned decentralized-wastewater assistance.
- Raises the per-system assistance cap to $20,000.
- Authorizes five-year wastewater performance warranties.
- Extends the $20 million annual authorization through 2031.
- Provides no automatic annual appropriation.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Restructures an existing rural household water and decentralized-wastewater assistance program so households below 60 percent of area median nonmetropolitan income receive subgrants and households at or above 60 percent receive loans, raises the per-system cap to $20,000, permits wastewater warranties, and extends annual authorization through 2031.
Key Policy Areas
Rural Water Systems, Decentralized Wastewater, Household Infrastructure Grants, USDA Rural Development, Nonprofit Lending
Primary Purpose
Restructures an existing rural household water and decentralized-wastewater assistance program so households below 60 percent of area median nonmetropolitan income receive subgrants and households at or above 60 percent receive loans, raises the per-system cap to $20,000, permits wastewater warranties, and extends annual authorization through 2031.
Policy Domains
Section 1 income-based assistance split, higher cap, warranty option, and authorization extension
Identified Gains
- Rural households below the 60 percent threshold
- Rural households above the former income ceiling
- Private nonprofit water-assistance organizations
- Household well contractors
- Decentralized-wastewater installers
- Wastewater warranty providers
- Rural communities lacking centralized utilities
Identified Costs
- Households exactly at the 60 percent threshold
- USDA Rural Utilities Service staff
- Nonprofit income-verification staff
- Federal accounts funding renewed grants
- Existing applicants competing for limited assistance
- Borrowers repaying program loans
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Introduced in House
Ms. Sewell (for herself and Mr. Rogers of Alabama) introduced …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Borrowers repaying program loans, Existing applicants competing for limited assistance, Existing low-income program applicants
Positive-direction: Household wastewater-system owners, Household well owners, Rural communities lacking centralized utilities, Rural households above the former income ceiling, Rural households below the 60 percent threshold
Negative-direction: Existing applicants competing for limited assistance, Households exactly at the 60 percent threshold
Nonprofit income-verification staff, Nonprofits administering performance warranties, Private nonprofit water-assistance organizations
Positive-direction: Private nonprofit water-assistance organizations
Negative-direction: Nonprofit income-verification staff, Nonprofits administering performance warranties
Decentralized-wastewater installers, Household well contractors, Rural plumbing contractors
Federal accounts funding renewed grants, USDA Rural Utilities Service staff, USDA household-water program staff
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Agriculture Secretary awarding grants to nonprofits
- "contractor"
- → Provider constructing or servicing a household system
- "intermediary"
- → Private nonprofit providing household loans or subgrants
- "loan_household"
- → Rural household at or above the 60 percent threshold
- "low_income_household"
- → Rural household below the 60 percent income threshold
Note: {'scope_ids': ['rural_household_water_assistance_revision'], 'description': 'Current law already covers wells, decentralized wastewater, loans, and subgrants; the bill changes the income allocation and cap, moves households exactly at 60 percent into the loan category, and extends an authorization that still requires appropriations.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A household in the service area with combined income at or above the 60 percent benchmark.
A household in a nonprofit's rural service area with combined income below 60 percent of the applicable median nonmetropolitan household income.
An optional warranty lasting at least five years whose cost may be included as additional subgrant funding.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology