Bill > HB3320

This bill, titled "The Drinking Water Transparency and Accountability Act," establishes a system for regulating community water systems in Missouri to ensure the quality, performance, and long-term sustainability of drinking water for citizens. It defines a "community water system" as a public water system serving at least fifteen connections and twenty-five residents annually, including various types of water providers like water corporations and municipal water companies. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (Department) will create a statewide accountability process that assigns a letter grade (A through F) to each community water system based on factors such as violations of drinking water laws, financial sustainability, operation and maintenance history, and infrastructure integrity. The Department will develop rules for this grading system, including a tiered structure for point deductions based on violations, with specific rules for systems of different sizes and provisions to protect trade secrets. Importantly, the rules will not deduct points for water outages or boil advisories. Systems receiving a "D" or "F" grade will be considered operationally unacceptable and may face administrative penalties, oversight of their funding by an auditor, and restrictions on incurring new debt not related to water system improvements. However, these systems will not be prevented from obtaining funding for improvements solely based on their grade. Local governing authorities operating such systems will be prohibited from using customer payments or water system revenue for anything other than the improvement and sustainability of the water system, with violations potentially leading to court-appointed receivers or mandatory water purchases from other systems. Receivers will be required to develop improvement plans, which may include rate increases or consolidation with other systems. The Department will publish the first letter grades by January 1, 2028, and community water systems receiving federal funds for infrastructure upgrades must submit a detailed plan to the Department on how those funds will be used.

https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB3320&year=2026&code=R