Sec. 3. Report on affordability, discrimination and civil rights violations, public participation in regionalization, and data collection
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The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall conduct a study on water and sewer services, in accordance with this subsection. In conducting the study under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall study water affordability nationwide, including— rates for water and sewer services, increases in such rates during the ten-year period preceding such study, and water service disconnections due to unpaid water service charges; and the effectiveness of funding under section 1452 of the Safe Drinking Water Act and under section 601 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act for promoting affordable, equitable, transparent, and reliable water and sewer service.
In conducting the study under paragraph (1), the Administrator, in collaboration with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, shall study— discriminatory practices of water and sewer service providers; and violations by such service providers that receive Federal assistance of civil rights under title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with regard to equal access to water and sewer services. In conducting the study under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall evaluate efforts to regionalize public water systems, as defined in section 1401 of the Safe Water Drinking Act, and sewer services with respect to public participation in— the decision to undergo such regionalization; and decisionmaking by the board of directors (or other governing body) of the entity that provides, or oversees or coordinates the provision of, water by the public water systems subject to such regionalization.
In conducting the study under paragraph (1), the Administrator shall collect information, assess the availability of information, and evaluate the methodologies used to collect information, related to— people living without water or sewer services; water service disconnections due to unpaid water service charges, including disconnections experienced by households containing children, elderly persons, disabled persons, chronically ill persons, or other vulnerable populations; and disparate effects, on the basis of race, gender, or socioeconomic status, of water service disconnections and the lack of public water service.
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall submit to Congress a report that contains— the results of the study conducted under subsection (a)(1); and recommendations for utility companies, Federal agencies, and States relating to such results.