Bill raises U.S. money for water pipes in poor rural West.
S. 4971 — Western Water Infrastructure Fairness Act · Filed by Mark Kelly (D-AZ) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jul 14, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill changes a 1999 water law. It says the U.S. will pay 90 percent of costs for water projects. These projects must be in poor rural Western areas. Local areas pay the rest. The bill uses the definition from a 2020 water law.
Who it affects
Poor rural areas in the West get more U.S. money for water projects. Rural water districts and towns gain access. Construction and engineering firms hired to build also gain.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say what the old U.S. share was. The bill does not set a time limit or money cap.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Jul 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 14, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- rural — Areas outside cities, with farms and small towns.
- water projects — Plans to build or fix systems that bring water to towns.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (638 characters) on Jul 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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