Clean Water Affordability Act of 2015

Summary: Clean Water Affordability Act of 2015  This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a comprehensive and integrated planning approach to the permit obligations under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) or a municipal separate storm sewer system.  A state may extend the term of a NPDES permit to up to 25 years under a state-administered NPDES program, if the permittee has an approved integrated plan. The EPA must update the guidance entitled &quot;Combined Sewer Overflows--Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and Schedule Development,&quot; to ensure that the evaluations by the EPA of financial capability assessment and schedule development meet specified criteria. States must set aside 15% of the amount of each capitalization grant they receive for water pollution control revolving funds to provide assistance to municipalities of fewer than 10,000 individuals that meet specified affordability criteria for activities on the state's priority list of POTW construction projects. Effluent limitations must be applied at the final point of discharge from a POTW treatment facility and not to flows within the facility. The EPA may issue NPDES permits with modified effluent limits for discharges of pollutants from a collection system servicing a POTW during periods of peak wet weather if a state concurs and the permit applicant has an approved peak wet weather management plan. States may adopt peak wet weather-related water quality standards for receiving waters during periods of peak wet weather events. The EPA must develop and publish guidance with respect to peak wet weather-related water quality standards and waste water management practices.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Clean Water 
Affordability Act of 2015''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
                   TITLE I--CLEAN WATER AFFORDABILITY

Sec. 101. Integrated planning process.
Sec. 102. Updating of guidance.
Sec. 103. Capitalization grant agreements.
                    TITLE II--WET WEATHER MANAGEMENT

Sec. 201. Technology-based controls for peak wet weather management.
Sec. 202. Wet weather water quality-based standards.
Sec. 203. Peak wet weather waste water management techniques.

                   TITLE I--CLEAN WATER AFFORDABILITY

SEC. 101. INTEGRATED PLANNING PROCESS.

    (a) In General.--Section 402(a) of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
            ``(6) Integrated permits.--
                    ``(A) Definition of publicly owned permittee.--In 
                this paragraph, the term `publicly owned permittee' 
                means either--
                            ``(i) a treatment works (as defined in 
                        section 212) that is publicly owned; or
                            ``(ii) a municipal separate storm sewer 
                        system referred to in this section.
                    ``(B) Planning approach.--The Administrator shall 
                establish a comprehensive and integrated planning 
                approach to the obligations under this section of a 
                publicly owned permittee--
                            ``(i) under which permit obligations may be 
                        implemented according to a schedule that--
                                    ``(I) accounts for the financial 
                                capability of the publicly owned 
                                permittee;
                                    ``(II) prioritizes permit 
                                obligations according to the most cost-
                                effective and environmentally 
                                beneficial outcomes;
                                    ``(III) accounts for the 
                                preexisting maintenance, operational, 
                                and regulatory obligations of the 
                                publicly owned permittee under this 
                                section; and
                                    ``(IV) enables the publicly owned 
                                permittee to implement innovative 
                                approaches to meet those obligations; 
                                and
                            ``(ii) that accounts for changed 
                        circumstances in the obligations of the 
                        publicly owned permittee, such as--
                                    ``(I) new innovative treatment 
                                approaches;
                                    ``(II) new regulatory requirements; 
                                and
                                    ``(III) changes in financial 
                                capability.''.
    (b) Duration of Permits.--Section 402(b)(1)(B) of the Federal Water 
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(b)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting 
before the semicolon at the end the following: ``, except that a permit 
with a term of more than 5 years but not more than 25 years may be 
approved if the permittee has an approved integrated plan established 
under subsection (a)(6)''.

SEC. 102. UPDATING OF GUIDANCE.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section, the following definitions apply:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Affordability.--The term ``affordability'' means, with 
        respect to payment of a utility bill, a measure of whether an 
        individual customer or household can pay the bill without undue 
        hardship or unreasonable sacrifice in the essential lifestyle 
        or spending patterns of the individual or household, as 
        determined by the Administrator.
            (3) Financial capability.--The term ``financial 
        capability'' means the financial capability of a community to 
        make investments necessary to make water quality-related 
        improvements, taking into consideration the criteria described 
        in subsection (b)(2)(A).
            (4) Guidance.--The term ``guidance'' means the guidance 
        published by the Administrator entitled ``Combined Sewer 
        Overflows--Guidance for Financial Capability Assessment and 
        Schedule Development'' and dated February 1997, as applicable 
        to combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows.
    (b) Updating.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall update the 
        guidance to ensure that the evaluations by the Administrator of 
        financial capability assessment and schedule development meet 
        the criteria described in paragraph (2).
            (2) Criteria.--The criteria described in this paragraph are 
        that, under the updated guidance--
                    (A) in assessing the financial capability of a 
                community--
                            (i) greater emphasis should be placed on 
                        local economic conditions;
                            (ii) for regional systems, consideration 
                        should be given to the economic conditions of 
                        political jurisdictions and significant 
                        demographic groups within each region;
                            (iii) prescriptive formulas for use in 
                        calculating financial capability and thresholds 
                        for expenditure should not be considered to be 
                        the only indicator of the financial capability 
                        of a community;
                            (iv) site-specific local conditions should 
                        be taken into consideration in analyzing 
                        financial capability;
                            (v) a single measure of financial 
                        capability or affordability (such as median 
                        household income) should be viewed in the 
                        context of other economic measures, rather than 
                        as a threshold to be achieved; and
                            (vi)(I) consideration should be given to 
                        the economic outlook of a community, including 
                        the potential impact of program requirements 
                        over time, in the development of implementation 
                        schedules; and
                            (II) the assessment should take into 
                        consideration other essential community 
                        investments relating to water quality 
                        improvements;
                    (B) with respect to the timing of implementation of 
                water quality-related improvements--
                            (i) environmental improvement 
                        implementation schedules should be structured 
                        to mitigate the potential adverse impact on 
                        distressed populations resulting from the costs 
                        of the improvements;
                            (ii) implementation schedules should 
                        reflect local community financial conditions 
                        and economic impacts;
                            (iii) implementation schedules should allow 
                        permittees up to 30 years to implement water 
                        quality-related improvements in appropriate 
                        cases in which the cost of implementing the 
                        improvements places a high financial burden on 
                        the permittee; and
                            (iv) existing implementation schedules 
                        should be modified in appropriate cases taking 
                        into consideration the criteria set forth in 
                        this subparagraph;
                    (C) with respect to implementation--
                            (i) a determination of local financial 
                        capability may be achieved through an 
                        evaluation of an array of factors the relative 
                        importance of which may vary across regions and 
                        localities; and
                            (ii) an appropriate methodology should give 
                        consideration to such various factors as are 
                        appropriate to recognize the prevailing and 
                        projected economic concerns in a community; and
                    (D) the residential indicator should be revised to 
                include--
                            (i) a consideration of costs imposed upon 
                        ratepayers for essential utilities;
                            (ii) increased consideration and 
                        quantification of local community-imposed costs 
                        in regional systems;
                            (iii) a mechanism to assess impacts on 
                        communities with disparate economic conditions 
                        throughout the entire service area of a 
                        utility;
                            (iv) a consideration of the industrial and 
                        population trends of a community;
                            (v) recognition that--
                                    (I) the median household income of 
                                a service area reflects a numerical 
                                median rather than the distribution of 
                                incomes within the service area; and
                                    (II) more representative methods of 
                                determining affordability, such as 
                                shelter costs, essential utility 
                                payments, State affordability criteria, 
                                and State and local tax efforts, should 
                                be considered;
                            (vi) a consideration of low-income 
                        ratepayer percentages; and
                            (vii) impacts relating to program delivery, 
                        such as water quality infrastructure market 
                        saturation and program management.
            (3) Implementation.--The updated guidance should indicate 
        that, in a case in which a previously approved long-term 
        control plan or associated enforceable agreement does not 
        prohibit modification of the plan or terms of the agreement 
        (including financial capability considerations), and all 
        parties are in agreement that a change is needed or that the 
        plan or agreement does not prohibit reopening to address 
        changes in the economic or financial status of the community 
        since the effective date of the plan or agreement, 
        reconsideration and modification of financial capability 
        determinations and implementation schedules based on the 
        criteria described in paragraph (2) is appropriate.
            (4) Applicability.--The Administrator shall apply the 
        updated guidance, including the criteria described in paragraph 
        (2), to each determination and analysis of affordability, 
        financial capability, or widespread and substantial economic 
        impact related to implementation of a program under the Federal 
        Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.).
    (c) Publication and Submission.--Upon completion of the updating of 
guidance under subsection (b), the Administrator shall publish in the 
Federal Register and submit to the Committee on Environment and Public 
Works of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives the updated guidance.

SEC. 103. CAPITALIZATION GRANT AGREEMENTS.

    Section 602(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
U.S.C. 1382(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (9);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (10) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(11) the State will use at least 15 percent of the amount 
        of each capitalization grant received by the State under this 
        title after September 30, 2016, to provide assistance to 
        municipalities of fewer than 10,000 individuals that meet the 
        affordability criteria established by the State under section 
        603(i)(2) for activities included on the State's priority list 
        established under section 603(g), to the extent that there are 
        sufficient applications for such assistance.''.

                    TITLE II--WET WEATHER MANAGEMENT

SEC. 201. TECHNOLOGY-BASED CONTROLS FOR PEAK WET WEATHER MANAGEMENT.

    (a) Applicability of Effluent Limitations.--Section 301(b)(1)(B) of 
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1311(b)(1)(B)) is 
amended by striking the semicolon and inserting ``, which effluent 
limitations shall apply at the final point of discharge from the 
treatment facility and not to flows within the treatment facility;''.
    (b) Modification of Effluent Limitations During Peak Wet Weather.--
Section 301 of such Act (33 U.S.C. 1311) is amended by adding at the 
end the following:
    ``(q) Modification of Effluent Limitations During Peak Wet 
Weather.--The Administrator, with concurrence of the State, may issue 
permits pursuant to section 402 that modify the requirements of 
subsection (b)(1)(B) with respect to the discharge of any pollutant 
from a collection system servicing a publicly owned treatment works 
during periods of peak wet weather, if the applicant demonstrates to 
the satisfaction of the Administrator that the applicant has a peak wet 
weather management plan approved by the Administrator or State that--
            ``(1) defines the peak wet weather event during which the 
        plan will apply; and
            ``(2) describes the management practices to be used by the 
        applicant during peak wet weather events pursuant to guidelines 
        established by the Administrator under section 304(d)(2).''.

SEC. 202. WET WEATHER WATER QUALITY-BASED STANDARDS.

    Section 303(c)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
U.S.C. 1313(c)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(C)(i) States may adopt peak wet weather-related water 
        quality standards for receiving waters during periods of peak 
        wet weather events (as determined pursuant to section 
        304(d)(2)).
            ``(ii) The Administrator, after consultation with States 
        and not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of 
        this subparagraph, and from time to time thereafter, shall 
        develop and publish guidance to States on developing and 
        implementing peak wet weather-related water quality standards 
        to accommodate peak wet weather discharges.''.

SEC. 203. PEAK WET WEATHER WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES.

    Section 304(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
U.S.C. 1314(d)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (4) as 
        paragraphs (3) through (5), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
            ``(2) Peak wet weather flow practices and techniques.--
                    ``(A) Information and guidelines.--The 
                Administrator, after consultation with appropriate 
                Federal and State agencies and other interested 
                parties, shall publish not later than 12 months after 
                the date of enactment of the Clean Water Affordability 
                Act of 2015, and from time to time thereafter, 
                information and guidelines for peak wet weather waste 
                water management practices available for use during 
                periods of peak wet weather events by a collection 
                system servicing a publicly owned treatment works to--
                            ``(i) prevent damage to the treatment 
                        facility;
                            ``(ii) maximize the delivery of flow to the 
                        treatment facility; and
                            ``(iii) provide for appropriate cost-
                        effective controls during peak wet weather 
                        events.
                    ``(B) Contents of guidelines.--The guidelines shall 
                include options for the types of technologies and 
                management approaches available to manage peak wet 
                weather-related wastewater flows, including--
                            ``(i) technologies and management 
                        approaches relating to facility and collection 
                        system storage methods (including in-system 
                        treatment methods throughout the collection 
                        system);
                            ``(ii) facility and collection systems 
                        operations and maintenance systems;
                            ``(iii) monitoring and reporting systems; 
                        and
                            ``(iv) alternative treatment methods and 
                        technologies that can achieve applicable water 
                        quality.''.