FLOWS Act of 2026

The FLOWS Act of 2026 was introduced in the Senate on March 3, 2026, by Sen. Boozman (R-AR) with Sen. Kelly (D-AZ) as a single cosponsor. It was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works and has not received any additional legislative action in the 57 days since introduction. No companion bill has been introduced in the House. This is a textbook early-stage authorization bill with low momentum. The bill authorizes — but does not appropriate — a grant program at the Environmental Protection Agency. No dollar amount is specified in the text. Under standard congressional procedure, a separate appropriations bill would be required to fund the program. Authorization alone creates no spending obligation and no revenue for vendors. The grant program is explicitly limited to publicly owned water systems serving rural areas. Investor-owned utilities (IOUs) such as American Water Works ($AWK) are excluded from eligibility. This means $AWK is not a beneficiary. The definition of digital infrastructure technology is broad — it covers remote sensing, flow/pressure monitoring, real-time analytics, acoustic leak detection, SCADA, AI optimization tools, and hydraulic modeling software. This directly describes products sold by Xylem ($XYL) and Itron ($ITRI). Looking at real market data as of April 30, 2026: $XYL trades at $116.77, near the bottom of its 52-week range ($114.15–$154.27), with a 7-day decline of -3.87% and a 30-day decline of -2.29%. $ITRI trades at $85.40, also near its 52-week low ($78.53–$142.00), with a 7-day decline of -3.56% and a 30-day decline of -4.72%. Both stocks have been under pressure unrelated to this bill. The FLOWS Act has had zero detectable impact on these price movements — the stock trends predate the bill's introduction and reflect broader market factors.