Water systems must defend against hacking with federal money.
S. 5368 — Water Cyber Shield Act of 2026 · Filed by Adam Schiff (D-CA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Aug 7, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill requires water systems to check for hacking risks and make emergency plans. Water systems must follow security rules set by the EPA. The government will give $300 million each year. This money runs from 2027 to 2032 to help systems get stronger. States must enforce the rules. Water systems must tell federal authorities when attacks happen.
Who it affects
People who use drinking water and sewage systems get stronger protections. Water systems must spend money and time on security. States must check if water systems follow the new rules.
One thing to notice
The bill keeps security assessments secret from the public. Smaller water systems may not have to follow the rules or get federal money.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Aug 7, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Aug 7, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- security assessments — Checks to find ways hackers could break into water system computers.
- security rules — Basic rules all water systems must follow to protect their computers.
- attacks — Times when hackers break into or harm computer systems.
- EPA — The Environmental Protection Agency, the federal group that makes water rules.
- federal authorities — Government officials who work for the United States.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (45,199 characters) on Aug 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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