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SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 1666
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR COLEMAN.
7174S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To amend chapter 640, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to the regulation of
community water systems.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 640, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto 1
one new section, to be known as section 640.138, to read as 2
follows:3
640.138. 1. This section shall be known and may be 1
cited as "The Drinking Water Transparency and Accountability 2
Act" which shall provide: 3
(1) For the development and implementation of a 4
community water system accountability process which requires 5
and supports drinking water infrastructure sustainability 6
for the citizens of Missouri; 7
(2) Assurance to the citizens that the quality of 8
drinking water is monitored and maintained at levels 9
essential for health, safety, welfare, and long-term 10
sustainability; 11
(3) Clear standards and expectations for community 12
water systems so that assessment of their quality, 13
performance, and sustainability will be understood; 14
(4) Information that will assist community water 15
systems and citizens in understanding expectations, 16
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outcomes, and consequences for failing community water 17
systems; 18
(5) Consequences and penalties for community water 19
systems that do not achieve minimum standards. 20
2. For purposes of this section, the following terms 21
mean: 22
(1) "Community water system", a public water system 23
that that serves at least fifteen service connections and 24
regularly serves at least twenty-five residents per year to 25
include, but not be limited to, water corporations, as 26
defined in section 386.020, public water districts under 27
chapter 247, municipal water companies under chapter 91, 28
nonprofit water companies as described in section 393.900, 29
and joint municipal water commissions created in sections 30
393.700 to 393.770; 31
(2) "Customer", the same as defined in section 640.102; 32
(3) "Department", the Missouri department of natural 33
resources. 34
3. The department shall provide for a statewide system 35
of accountability for community water systems and establish 36
a letter grade schedule to include community water system 37
quality, performance, and sustainability based on, at a 38
minimum, the following standards: 39
(1) Violation of any federal drinking water laws; 40
(2) Violation of any state drinking water laws; 41
(3) Water system financial sustainability; 42
(4) Operation and maintenance performance history; 43
(5) Infrastructure violations including, but not 44
limited to, failure, damage, or unauthorized tampering with 45
any property owned or operated by a community water system. 46
4. (1) The department shall promulgate rules 47
necessary to implement provisions of this section. The 48
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rules shall provide clear and appropriate explanation for 49
each standard set forth in subsection 3 of this section. 50
The rules shall create a tiered structure of point 51
deductions that utilizes violation metrics, excluding 52
maximum contaminant levels under section 640.120, for 53
community water systems between zero to fifty thousand 54
customers, where one violation equates to one point 55
deduction. For the community water systems with over fifty 56
thousand customers, five violations shall equate to one 57
point deduction. Point values shall be based on objective 58
criteria so that each community water system is assessed 59
equally and fairly. Community water systems shall be 60
assigned a letter grade of "A", "B", "C", "D", or "F". The 61
rules shall include a provision prohibiting disclosures by 62
the department pursuant to the provisions of section 610.032 63
of water system information if it is defined as a "trade 64
secret" as defined in section 417.453. The rules shall 65
require that the system's consumer confidence report list 66
the system's grade along with the explanation that the grade 67
is based on the results under this section and not the 68
federal Consumer Confidence Report. 69
(2) The rules shall not deduct points for water 70
outages or boil advisories. The rules shall provide that 71
for water corporations, the department shall only utilize 72
data provided by the water corporation in its most recent 73
general rate case, if it has occurred within the past three 74
years. Otherwise, the water corporation shall be required 75
to submit a rate study and audit. 76
(3) The department shall publish scores and letter 77
grades under this section earned by each community water 78
system on its website on an annual frequency established by 79
rule. The department shall promulgate rules that provide a 80
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process by which the community water systems can review and 81
appeal the department’s scores and grades prior to website 82
publication. The department shall promulgate rules that 83
permit community water systems to request that the 84
department suspend publication of scores and letter grades 85
for no more than twelve months if the community water system 86
has changed ownership. For thirty-six months following an 87
ownership change, the system may include the following 88
language on its consumer confidence report: "The system has 89
changed ownership and is in the compliance enhancement 90
process". Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is 91
defined in section 536.010, that is created under the 92
authority delegated in this section shall become effective 93
only if it complies with and is subject to all of the 94
provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 95
536.028. This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and 96
if any of the powers vested with the general assembly 97
pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective 98
date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently 99
held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking 100
authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 101
2026, shall be invalid and void. 102
5. (1) Any community water system that receives a 103
letter grade of "D" or "F" shall be considered operationally 104
unacceptable and may be subject to the following: 105
(a) Administrative penalties pursuant to the 106
provisions of section 640.131; 107
(b) Oversight of all federal or state funding by an 108
auditor approved by the department who has experience with 109
fiscal management of local government. Such oversight shall 110
include the authority to make decisions regarding the 111
expenditure of funding; 112
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(c) Submit a notice to the safe drinking water 113
commission, the public service commission, and the attorney 114
general to prohibit the community water system or the local 115
governing authority operating the community water system 116
from incurring any additional debt for anything not directly 117
related to the improvement and sustainability of the 118
community drinking water system pursuant to a plan approved 119
by the department. 120
(2) A community water system that receives a letter 121
grade of "D" or "F" shall not be precluded from obtaining 122
funding for the improvement and sustainability of the 123
community drinking water system based solely on the letter 124
grade. 125
6. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the 126
contrary, no local governing authority that operates a 127
community water system that receives a grade of "D" or "F" 128
shall expend any money raised through payments made by 129
customers for access to water or from any other water system 130
revenue for any item, debt payment, or public purpose other 131
than the improvement and sustainability of the community 132
water system specifically related to the point deductions or 133
letter grade standards under this section. A violation of 134
this subsection shall be grounds, upon a petition from the 135
department, for a court to appoint a receiver or fiscal 136
administrator or to order the mandatory safe water purchase 137
from another system as determined by the department. The 138
provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to 139
prohibit the payment of bonded indebtedness secured by the 140
water system's revenue prior to August 28, 2026. 141
7. No later than ninety days after appointment, the 142
receiver shall develop and submit an improvement plan to the 143
department for approval. The improvement plan shall include 144
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the ability to increase rates paid by users of the community 145
water system based on a fair assessment of the community 146
water system compared to other comparable water systems, the 147
consolidation of the community water system with a 148
neighboring system or systems, or other measure which may be 149
proposed by the receiver or the department to ensure the 150
sustainability of the system for the benefit of the 151
customers who rely on the community water system for their 152
drinking water. The receiver shall include in the 153
improvement plan any additional measures proposed by the 154
department necessary to bring the community water system 155
into technical and operational compliance and financial 156
sustainability under this section. The appointing court 157
shall grant authority to the receiver necessary to implement 158
the improvement plan as approved by the department. 159
8. The department shall publish the first letter 160
grades issued pursuant to this section no later than January 161
1, 2028. 162
9. A community water system receiving federal funds, 163
including stimulus or relief payments or grants, for the 164
upgrade, repair, or otherwise replacement of the water 165
system infrastructure shall submit to the department a 166
detailed plan describing how the federal funds will be used. 167
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