Wet Weather Quality Act of 2000

Summary: Authorizes the Administrator to provide technical assistance and grants for treatment works to carry out pilot projects relating to specified areas of wet weather discharge control. Authorizes appropriations.
Permits the Administrator, in any fiscal year in which at least $1.2 billion is available for grants to States for water pollution control revolving funds, to make grants to States or municipalities for planning, design, and construction of treatment works to intercept, transport, control, or treat municipal CSO and sanitary sewer overflows. Gives priority for grants to certain applicants, including municipalities that are financially distressed communities. Requires the Federal share of the cost of activities funded by such grants to be at least 55 percent. Authorizes and allocates appropriations. Requires the Administrator to report periodically to Congress on the recommended funding levels for such grants.
Directs the Administrator to report to Congress on: (1) the extent of health and environmental impacts caused by municipal CSO and sanitary sewer overflows; and (2) the resources spent, and technologies used, by municipalities to address such impacts. Requires the Administrator to maintain a clearinghouse of technologies for addressing such impacts.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Wet Weather Water Quality Act of 
2000''.

SEC. 2. COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS.

    Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(q) Combined Sewer Overflows.--
            ``(1) Requirement for permits, orders, and decrees.--Each 
        permit, order, or decree issued pursuant to this Act after the 
        date of enactment of this subsection for a discharge from a 
        municipal combined storm and sanitary sewer shall conform to 
        the Combined Sewer Overflow Control Policy signed by the 
        Administrator on April 11, 1994 (in this subsection referred to 
        as the `CSO control policy'), and shall provide for the 
        development and implementation of long-term control plans to 
        meet applicable water quality standards as expeditiously as 
        possible.
            ``(2) Water quality and designated use review guidance.--
        Not later than December 31, 2000, and after providing notice 
        and opportunity for public comment, the Administrator shall 
        issue guidance to facilitate the conduct of water quality and 
        designated use reviews for municipal combined sewer overflow 
        receiving waters.
            ``(3) Report.--Not later than September 1, 2001, the 
        Administrator shall transmit to Congress a report on the 
        progress made by the Environmental Protection Agency, States, 
        and municipalities in implementing and enforcing the CSO 
        control policy.''.

SEC. 3. WET WEATHER PILOT PROGRAM.

    Title I of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 121. WET WEATHER WATERSHED PILOT PROJECTS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Administrator, in coordination with the 
States, may provide technical assistance and grants for treatment works 
to carry out pilot projects relating to the following areas of wet 
weather discharge control:
            ``(1) Watershed management of wet weather discharges.--The 
        management of municipal combined sewer overflows, sanitary 
        sewer overflows, and stormwater discharges, on an integrated 
        watershed or subwatershed basis for the purpose of 
        demonstrating the effectiveness of a unified wet weather 
        approach.
            ``(2) Stormwater best management practices.--The control of 
        pollutants from municipal separate storm sewer systems for the 
        purpose of demonstrating and determining controls that are 
        cost-effective and that use innovative technologies in reducing 
        such pollutants from stormwater discharges.
    ``(b) Administration.--The Administrator, in coordination with the 
States, shall provide municipalities participating in a pilot project 
under this section the ability to engage in innovative practices, 
including the ability to unify separate wet weather control efforts 
under a single permit.
    ``(c) Funding.--
            ``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
        to carry out this section $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, 
        $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, and $20,000,000 for fiscal 
        year 2004. Such funds shall remain available until expended.
            ``(2) Stormwater.--The Administrator shall make available 
        not less than 20 percent of amounts appropriated for a fiscal 
        year pursuant to this subsection to carry out the purposes of 
        subsection (a)(2).
            ``(3) Administrative expenses.--The Administrator may 
        retain not to exceed 4 percent of any amounts appropriated for 
        a fiscal year pursuant to this subsection for the reasonable 
and necessary costs of administering this section.
    ``(d) Report to Congress.--Not later than 5 years after the date of 
enactment of this section, the Administrator shall transmit to Congress 
a report on the results of the pilot projects conducted under this 
section and their possible application nationwide.''.

SEC. 4. SEWER OVERFLOW CONTROL GRANTS.

    Title II of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 220. SEWER OVERFLOW CONTROL GRANTS.

    ``(a) In General.--In any fiscal year in which the Administrator 
has available for obligation at least $1,200,000,000 for the purposes 
of section 601--
            ``(1) the Administrator may make grants to States for the 
        purpose of providing grants to a municipality or municipal 
        entity for planning, design, and construction of treatment 
        works to intercept, transport, control, or treat municipal 
        combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows; and
            ``(2) subject to subsection (g), the Administrator may make 
        a direct grant to a municipality or municipal entity for the 
        purposes described in paragraph (1).
    ``(b) Prioritization.--In selecting from among municipalities 
applying for grants under subsection (a), a State or the Administrator 
shall give priority to an applicant that--
            ``(1) is a municipality that is a financially distressed 
        community under subsection (c);
            ``(2) has implemented or is complying with an 
        implementation schedule for the 9 minimum controls specified in 
        the CSO control policy referred to in section 402(q)(1) and has 
        begun implementing a long-term municipal combined sewer 
        overflow control plan or a separate sanitary sewer overflow 
        control plan; or
            ``(3) is requesting a grant for a project that is on a 
        State's intended use plan pursuant to section 606(c).
    ``(c) Financially Distressed Community.--
            ``(1) Definition.--In subsection (b), the term `financially 
        distressed community' means a community that meets 
        affordability criteria established by the State in which the 
        community is located, if such criteria are developed after 
        public review and comment.
            ``(2) Consideration of impact on water and sewer rates.--In 
        determining if a community is a distressed community for the 
        purposes of subsection (b), the State shall consider, among 
        other factors, the extent to which the rate of growth of a 
        community's tax base has been historically slow such that 
        implementing a plan described in subsection (b)(2) would result 
        in a significant increase in any water or sewer rate charged by 
        the community's publicly owned wastewater treatment facility.
            ``(3) Information to assist states.--The Administrator may 
        publish information to assist States in establishing 
        affordability criteria under paragraph (1).
    ``(d) Cost Sharing.--The Federal share of the cost of activities 
carried out using amounts from a grant made under subsection (a) shall 
be not less than 55 percent of the cost. The non-Federal share of the 
cost may include, in any amount, public and private funds and in-kind 
services, and may include, notwithstanding section 603(h), financial 
assistance, including loans, from a State water pollution control 
revolving fund.
    ``(e) Administrative Reporting Requirements.--If a project receives 
grant assistance under subsection (a) and loan assistance from a State 
water pollution control revolving fund and the loan assistance is for 
15 percent or more of the cost of the project, the project may be 
administered in accordance with State water pollution control revolving 
fund administrative reporting requirements for the purposes of 
streamlining such requirements.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $750,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2002 and 2003. Such sums shall remain available until expended.
    ``(g) Allocation of Funds.--
            ``(1) Fiscal year 2002.--Subject to subsection (h), the 
        Administrator shall use the amounts appropriated to carry out 
        this section for fiscal year 2002 for making grants to 
        municipalities and municipal entities under subsection (a)(2), 
        in accordance with the criteria set forth in subsection (b).
            ``(2) Fiscal year 2003.--Subject to subsection (h), the 
        Administrator shall use the amounts appropriated to carry out 
        this section for fiscal year 2003 as follows:
                    ``(A) Not to exceed $250,000,000 for making grants 
                to municipalities and municipal entities under 
                subsection (a)(2), in accordance with the criteria set 
                forth in subsection (b).
                    ``(B) All remaining amounts for making grants to 
                States under subsection (a)(1), in accordance with a 
                formula to be established by the Administrator, after 
                providing notice and an opportunity for public comment, 
                that allocates to each State a proportional share of 
                such amounts based on the total needs of the State for 
                municipal combined sewer overflow controls and sanitary 
                sewer overflow controls identified in the most recent 
                survey conducted pursuant to section 516(b)(1).
    ``(h) Administrative Expenses.--Of the amounts appropriated to 
carry out this section for each fiscal year--
            ``(1) the Administrator may retain an amount not to exceed 
        1 percent for the reasonable and necessary costs of 
        administering this section; and
            ``(2) the Administrator, or a State, may retain an amount 
        not to exceed 4 percent of any grant made to a municipality or 
        municipal entity under subsection (a), for the reasonable and 
        necessary costs of administering the grant.
    ``(i) Reports.--Not later than December 31, 2003, and periodically 
thereafter, the Administrator shall transmit to Congress a report 
containing recommended funding levels for grants under this section. 
The recommended funding levels shall be sufficient to ensure the 
continued expeditious implementation of municipal combined sewer 
overflow and sanitary sewer overflow controls nationwide.''.

SEC. 5. INFORMATION ON CSOS AND SSOS.

    (a) Report to Congress.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency shall transmit to Congress a report summarizing--
            (1) the extent of the human health and environmental 
        impacts caused by municipal combined sewer overflows and 
        sanitary sewer overflows, including the location of discharges 
        causing such impacts, the volume of pollutants discharged, and 
        the constituents discharged;
            (2) the resources spent by municipalities to address these 
        impacts; and
            (3) an evaluation of the technologies used by 
        municipalities to address these impacts.
    (b) Technology Clearinghouse.--After transmitting a report under 
subsection (a), the Administrator shall maintain a clearinghouse of 
cost-effective and efficient technologies for addressing human health 
and environmental impacts due to municipal combined sewer overflows and 
sanitary sewer overflows.