# Water Resources Research Amendments Act

This bill updates and extends funding for university-based water research institutes across the country. These institutes conduct studies on water supply problems, water quality, and other water-related challenges that affect communities. The bill essentially keeps this research program going by updating old funding language from 2011 to cover the years 2022 through 2025, providing $12 million annually for the main research grants and $6 million annually for research focused on water issues that cross state lines.

The bill makes a few practical changes to how these institutes operate. First, it requires that when the federal government gives money to these institutes, they must match it with their own funding—meaning for every dollar of federal money, the institute must contribute at least one dollar of its own. This ensures local investment in the research. Second, the bill adds a new requirement that the Secretary of the Interior must submit yearly reports to Congress about whether each institute is actually complying with the program's requirements and producing useful results. This creates accountability for how taxpayer money is being spent.

The bill also strengthens oversight by requiring the federal government to evaluate each institute thoroughly every five years to check whether their research is high quality, relevant to real-world water problems, and actually producing results. If an institute fails this evaluation, it can lose its federal funding until it improves. This means the program focuses resources on institutes that are genuinely helping solve water supply and quality issues rather than funding research that doesn't produce practical benefits for communities facing water challenges.

Water Resources Research Amendments Act

Water Resources Research Amendments Act This bill reauthorizes through FY2025 the Water Resources Research Act Program and otherwise revises the program, including by increasing the federal share of grant funding under the program for water resources research and technology institutes.