Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act of 2025
House Bill Would Create $35B Annual Water Infrastructure Fund, Raising Corporate Tax Rate to 24.5%
Stalled
No legislative action in over 90 days.
Legislative Progress
Key Points
- This bill creates a permanent Trust Fund to pay for repairs to the nation's aging water and sewer systems. It would provide up to $35 billion every year to ensure Americans have access to safe, clean, and affordable water.
- To pay for these upgrades, the bill would raise the federal corporate tax rate from 21% to 24.5%. This money would go directly into fixing pipes, treatment plants, and school drinking fountains across the country.
- A major part of the plan focuses on health. It provides grants to replace lead pipes with safe copper ones at no cost to homeowners and helps communities clean up "forever chemicals" found in drinking water and household wells.
- The policy aims to help struggling families by studying why water bills are rising and looking for ways to prevent service shut-offs. It also sets aside specific funding for rural areas, tribal lands, and schools to ensure no community is left behind.
- It creates a new job training program for water and sewer workers. At least half of this training would be targeted toward people living in low-income areas or communities of color to help them get steady, good-paying jobs in the water industry.
Impact Analysis
Personal Impact
Life & Work
The bill raises the federal corporate tax rate from 21% to 24.5%, a significant increase that would raise costs for businesses organized as C-corporations. While pass-through entities like S-corps and sole proprietors are not directly affected by the corporate rate, many small businesses structured as C-corps would face higher tax bills.
Programs
Disabilities
State Impacts
Milestones
Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Education and Workforce, 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.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in House
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
Votes
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
Related News
3 articles
Federal Water Tap, May 19, 2025: Campaign against Water Conservation Continues
Democrats in the House and Senate introduced the WATER Act to establish a $35 billion annual trust fund for water and sewer infrastructure. A version of the act has been introduced since 2016 to provide dedicated federal funding for aging systems and lead pipe replacement.
Sanders, Watson Coleman, Khanna Reintroduce WATER Act to Expand Access to Clean Drinking Water
The Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability Act has 65 House cosponsors and 5 Senate cosponsors. It invests $35 billion into an annual trust fund for water and sewer modernization, including removing contaminants like lead and PFAS 'forever chemicals.'
EPA rolls back Biden-era rules against 'forever chemicals' in drinking water
The EPA is rescinding standards for PFAS contaminants, citing compliance costs. Proponents of the WATER Act argue that the bill's $35 billion annual investment is essential to help utilities afford the technology required to remove these toxins from the water supply.
Source Information
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act of 2025
Data Sources
Sponsor
Cosponsors
(78)Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.