(Sec. 103) Revises State water pollution control revolving fund provisions concerning: (1) project eligibility; (2) loan payments and subsidization (making special provision for small treatment works); (3) community development conditions; (4) State priority systems; (5) strategies for technical, managerial, operations, maintenance, and financial capacity and sustaining compliance with applicable laws; (6) project restructuring conditions; (7) technical assistance for small treatment works located in rural areas; (8) allocation of funds; and (9) intended use plans and progress reports.
Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 through 2007 to carry out the State water pollution control revolving fund program. Allows the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reserve up to a specified amount annually for surveys of the construction costs of needed publicly owned treatment works.
(Sec. 104) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2004 through 2007 for grants for sewer overflow treatment works.
Title II: Safe Drinking Water Act Modifications - Subtitle A: State Revolving Loan Fund Projects and Activities - (Sec. 201) Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to authorize appropriations for FY 2003 through 2010 for assistance to New York State for the New York City watershed protection program.
(Sec. 202) Expands requirements for coverage under the Davis-Bacon Act (which requires that the locally prevailing wage rate be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics working under federally-financed or federally-assisted contracts for construction, alteration, and repair of public buildings or public works) of laborers and mechanics employed on construction projects financed under SDWA.
(Sec. 203) Includes among authorized uses of amounts in a State revolving loan fund: (1) planning, design, and associated preconstruction expenditures and projects for consolidation among community water systems; and (2) activities to increase security of a public water system.
(Sec. 204) Revises funding limitations to allow restructuring public water systems to include the formation of regional partnerships among operations changes agreed to by owners or operators.
Requires States that enter into capitalization agreements to provide significant public outreach in preparation of annual intended use plans.
Revises conditions for loans made under State loan funds. Exempts assistance to be used solely for planning, design, or security measures not requiring significant capital expenditures from certain management conditions.
Requires recipients of assistance to demonstrate to the State that they will coordinate and consult with agencies with authority to develop land use, transportation, and watershed plans.
Expands eligibility of source water protection programs for funding.
(Sec. 205) Revises provisions for loan subsidies to disadvantaged communities to allow a State to provide additional subsidization to a community that does not meet the definition of a disadvantaged community if the recipient demonstrates that it directs the subsidization to the maximum extent practicable to disadvantaged users (defined by affordability criteria).
(Sec. 206) Makes private utilities eligible for assistance if a State includes their needs in the public water system capital needs survey.
(Sec. 207) Includes technology assessment among the responsibilities of small public water system technology assistance centers and imposes review requirements. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 through 2007.
Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 through 2007 for university-based environmental finance centers.
(Sec. 208) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2003 through 2007 to carry out the State revolving loan fund program. Allows the Administrator to reserve up to a specified amount annually for water system capital needs surveys and surveys of water treatment facilities needs of Indian tribes.
Subtitle B: Small Public Water System Assistance - Small Community Drinking Water Funding Act - Amends SDWA to require the Administrator to establish a Small Public Water System Assistance Program, including a program for Indian tribes, to assist small water systems in complying with national primary drinking water regulations.
Requires annual reports to Congress, and separate reports by Indian tribes to the Administrator, on activities funded under program grants.
Subtitle III: Innovations in Fund and Water Quality Management - (Sec. 302) Directs the Administrator to establish a demonstration program of research and development grants and contracts to promote technological innovations and alternative approaches to water quality management or water supply and to reduce municipalities' FWPCA and SDWA compliance costs.
Includes among projects those addressing such matters as excessive nutrient growth, water conservation, nonpoint source pollution, monitoring deficiencies, and sewer overflows. Requires that higher priority be given to those that address multiple problems and are regionally applicable. Requires biennial reports to Congress.
Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 303) Directs the Administrator to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to study public water system and treatment works rate structures of selected communities. Requires a report to Congress. Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 304) Directs the Administrator to consult with States, treatment works, and public water systems to identify improvements in the application and review process for provision of assistance from the State water pollution control and drinking water revolving funds under FWPCA and SDWA, respectively. Requires a report to Congress.
(Sec. 305) Amends FWPCA and SDWA to allow a Governor to reserve and transfer a specified percentage of capitalization grants made under each Act between the water pollution control and drinking water treatment revolving funds.
Title IV: Water Resource Planning - Directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the United States Geological Survey, to: (1) assess the state of the Nation's water resources; and (2) coordinate a process to develop and publish a list of water resource research priorities focusing on monitoring and improving the quality of information available to water resource managers and a process to develop an effective system to communicate water resource information. Requires a report to Congress. Authorizes appropriations.
Title V: Miscellaneous - Amends FWPCA to require the Administrator to establish within EPA a program of grants to upgrade nutrient removal technologies so that they reduce total nitrogen to an average annual concentration of not more than four milligrams per liter or the limit of such technologies in a particular geographical area, whichever is less. Authorizes appropriations.