Great Lakes Water Protection Act

Summary: Great Lakes Water Protection Act  This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to prohibit a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) from discharging untreated or partially treated sewage into the Great Lakes or a tributary of the Great Lakes when the discharge is the result of the POTW intentionally diverting waste streams to bypass any portion of a treatment facility. A bypass is allowed if: (1) it is unavoidable to prevent loss of life, personal injury, or severe property damage, there is no feasible alternative, and the treatment works provides notice; or (2) it does not cause effluent (waste) limitations to be exceeded and is for essential maintenance to ensure efficient operation of the treatment facility.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must work with relevant states to create requirements for providing immediate notice to the public about discharges. The EPA must establish procedures to ensure that permits issued to POTWs under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System include requirements to comply with this bill.  This bill establishes a maximum civil penalty of $100,000 per day for violations of the bill occurring on or after January 1, 2035. The penalties must be deposited into the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund, which is established by this bill. The Fund must be used for improving wastewater discharges.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Great Lakes Water Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON SEWAGE DUMPING INTO THE GREAT LAKES.

    (a) In General.--Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(s) Prohibition on Sewage Dumping Into the Great Lakes.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Bypass.--The term `bypass' means an 
                intentional diversion of waste streams to bypass any 
                portion of a treatment facility that results in a 
                discharge into the Great Lakes.
                    ``(B) Discharge.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `discharge' 
                        means a direct or indirect discharge of 
                        untreated sewage or partially treated sewage 
                        from a treatment works into the Great Lakes or 
                        a tributary of the Great Lakes.
                            ``(ii) Inclusions.--The term `discharge' 
                        includes a bypass and a combined sewer 
                        overflow.
                    ``(C) Great lakes.--The term `Great Lakes' has the 
                meaning given the term in section 118(a)(3).
                    ``(D) Partially treated sewage.--The term 
                `partially treated sewage' means any sewage, sewage and 
                storm water, or sewage and wastewater, from domestic or 
                industrial sources that--
                            ``(i) is not treated to national secondary 
                        treatment standards for wastewater; or
                            ``(ii) is treated to a level less than the 
                        level required by the applicable national 
                        pollutant discharge elimination system permit.
                    ``(E) Treatment facility.--The term `treatment 
                facility' includes all wastewater treatment units used 
                by a publicly owned treatment works to meet secondary 
                treatment standards or higher, as required to attain 
                water quality standards, under any operating 
                conditions.
                    ``(F) Treatment works.--The term `treatment works' 
                has the meaning given the term in section 212.
            ``(2) Prohibition.--A publicly owned treatment works is 
        prohibited from performing a bypass unless--
                    ``(A)(i) the bypass is unavoidable to prevent loss 
                of life, personal injury, or severe property damage;
                    ``(ii) there is not a feasible alternative to the 
                bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treatment 
                facilities, retention of untreated wastes, or 
                maintenance during normal periods of equipment 
                downtime; and
                    ``(iii) the treatment works provides notice of the 
                bypass in accordance with this subsection; or
                    ``(B) the bypass does not cause effluent 
                limitations to be exceeded, and the bypass is for 
                essential maintenance to ensure efficient operation of 
                the treatment facility.
            ``(3) Limitation.--The requirement of paragraph (2)(A)(ii) 
        is not satisfied if--
                    ``(A) adequate back-up equipment should have been 
                installed in the exercise of reasonable engineering 
                judgment to prevent the bypass; and
                    ``(B) the bypass occurred during normal periods of 
                equipment downtime or preventive maintenance.
            ``(4) Immediate notice requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Administrator shall work 
                with States having publicly owned treatment works 
                subject to the requirements of this subsection to 
                create immediate notice requirements in the event of 
                discharge that provide for the method, contents, and 
                requirements for public availability of the notice.
                    ``(B) Minimum requirements.--
                            ``(i) In general.--At a minimum, the 
                        contents of the notice shall include--
                                    ``(I) the exact dates and times of 
                                the discharge;
                                    ``(II) the volume of the discharge; 
                                and
                                    ``(III) a description of any public 
                                access areas impacted.
                            ``(ii) Consistency.--Minimum requirements 
                        shall be consistent for all States.
                    ``(C) Additional requirements.--The Administrator 
                and States described in subparagraph (A) shall 
                include--
                            ``(i) follow-up notice requirements that 
                        provide a more full description of each event, 
                        the cause, and plans to prevent reoccurrence; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) annual publication requirements that 
                        list each treatment works from which the 
                        Administrator or the State receive a follow-up 
                        notice.
                    ``(D) Timing.--The notice and publication 
                requirements described in this paragraph shall be 
                implemented not later than 2 years after the date of 
                enactment of this subsection.
            ``(5) Sewage blending.--Bypasses prohibited by this section 
        include bypasses resulting in discharges from a publicly owned 
        treatment works that consist of effluent routed around 
        treatment units and thereafter blended together with effluent 
        from treatment units prior to discharge.
            ``(6) Implementation.--As soon as practicable, the 
        Administrator shall establish procedures to ensure that permits 
        issued under this section (or under a State permit program 
        approved under this section) to a publicly owned treatment 
        works include requirements to implement this subsection.
            ``(7) Increase in maximum civil penalty for violations 
        occurring after january 1, 2035.--Notwithstanding section 309, 
        in the case of a violation of this subsection occurring on or 
        after January 1, 2035, or any violation of a permit limitation 
        or condition implementing this subsection occurring after that 
        date, the maximum civil penalty that shall be assessed for the 
        violation shall be $100,000 per day for each day the violation 
        occurs.
            ``(8) Applicability.--This subsection shall apply to a 
        bypass occurring after the last day of the 1-year period 
        beginning on the date of enactment of this subsection.''.
    (b) Great Lakes Cleanup Fund.--
            (1) Establishment.--Title V of the Federal Water Pollution 
        Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating section 519 (33 U.S.C. 1251 
                note) as section 520; and
                    (B) by inserting after section 518 (33 U.S.C. 1377) 
                the following:

``SEC. 519. ESTABLISHMENT OF GREAT LAKES CLEANUP FUND.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Fund.--The term `Fund' means the Great Lakes Cleanup 
        Fund established by subsection (b).
            ``(2) Great lakes; great lakes states.--The terms `Great 
        Lakes' and `Great Lakes States' have the meanings given the 
        terms in section 118(a)(3).
    ``(b) Establishment of Fund.--There is established in the Treasury 
of the United States a trust fund to be known as the `Great Lakes 
Cleanup Fund' (referred to in this section as the `Fund').
    ``(c) Transfers to Fund.--Effective January 1, 2035, there are 
authorized to be appropriated to the Fund amounts equivalent to the 
penalties collected for violations of section 402(s).
    ``(d) Administration of Fund.--The Administrator shall administer 
the Fund.
    ``(e) Use of Funds.--The Administrator shall--
            ``(1) make the amounts in the Fund available to the Great 
        Lakes States for use in carrying out programs and activities 
        for improving wastewater discharges into the Great Lakes, 
        including habitat protection and wetland restoration; and
            ``(2) allocate those amounts among the Great Lakes States 
        based on the proportion that--
                    ``(A) the amount attributable to a Great Lakes 
                State for penalties collected for violations of section 
                402(s); bears to
                    ``(B) the total amount of those penalties 
                attributable to all Great Lakes States.
    ``(f) Priority.--In selecting programs and activities to be funded 
using amounts made available under this section, a Great Lakes State 
shall give priority consideration to programs and activities that 
address violations of section 402(s) resulting in the collection of 
penalties.''.
            (2) Conforming amendments to state revolving fund 
        program.--Section 607 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
        Act (33 U.S.C. 1387) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``There is'' and inserting ``(a) In 
                General.--There is''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Treatment of Great Lakes Cleanup Fund.--For purposes of this 
title, amounts made available from the Great Lakes Cleanup Fund under 
section 519 shall be treated as funds authorized to be appropriated to 
carry out this title and as funds made available under this title, 
except that the funds shall be made available to the Great Lakes States 
in accordance with section 519.''.