Reauthorizes federal desalination programs and lets the Secretary pay up to 25 percent of eligible desalination project costs, with no dollar cap on that participation.

Official title: Desalination Reauthorization Act

Next stop Senate floor: awaiting a vote

Timeline each lane is a chamber; dates pull from congress.gov actions

Senate

Introduced 06-AUG-2026

Approved by committee 30-SEP-2026

Key points

Limits the Secretary's participation in eligible desalination projects to 25 percent of total project cost, with no dollar cap
Creates competitive grants for developing and operating advanced pilot desalination technologies, with rigorous cost analyses of projected full-scale water costs
Allows advanced pilot projects to share costs under the same rules that apply to desalination studies
Sets certain demonstration projects to expire 15 years after enactment of this Act

AI-generated from the Introduced in Senate text of 06-AUG-2026 · verify · report an error

Official CRS summary

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Committee referrals (1)

Policy area

Water Resources Development

Sponsor Alex Padilla (D-CA) Cosponsors · 1

■ 1 R

1 Republican

congress.gov page Introduced in Senate (06-AUG-2026)