I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 999

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to improve the quality

of coastal recreation waters, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 4, 1999

Mr. BILBRAY (for himself, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. GILCHREST, Mrs.

CAPPS, Mr. KUYKENDALL, and Mr. SAXTON) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to improve the quality of coastal recreation waters, and for

other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Beaches Environ5 mental Assessment, Cleanup, and Health Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) the Nation’s beaches and coastal rec2 reational waters are a valuable public resource used

3 for recreation by millions of people annually;

4 (2) the beaches of coastal States are hosts to

5 many out-of-State and international visitors;

6 (3) tourism in coastal areas generates billions

7 of dollars annually;

8 (4) increased population and urbanization of

9 the watershed have contributed to the decline in the

10 environmental quality of coastal waters;

11 (5) pollution in coastal waters is not restricted

12 by State and other political boundaries;

13 (6) coastal States have different methods of

14 testing the quality of coastal recreation waters, pro15 viding varying degrees of protection to the public;

16 (7) the adoption of consistent criteria by coastal

17 States for monitoring and evaluating the quality of

18 coastal recreation waters, and notifying the public

19 during periods when the standards are exceeded or

20 predicted to be exceeded, would enhance public

21 health and safety; and

22 (8) while the adoption of such criteria will en23 hance public health and safety, exceedances of such

24 criteria should be addressed (for example, as part of
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1 a watershed approach to effectively identify and

2 eliminate sources of pollution).

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to estab4 lish uniform criteria for testing, monitoring, and notifying

5 public users of coastal recreation waters to protect public

6 safety and improve environmental quality.

7 SEC. 3. ADOPTION OF COASTAL RECREATIONAL WATER

8 QUALITY CRITERIA BY STATES.

9 Section 303 of the Federal Water Pollution Control

10 Act (33 U.S.C. 1313) is amended by adding at the end

11 the following:

12 ‘‘(i) ADOPTION OF COASTAL RECREATIONAL WATER

13 QUALITY CRITERIA BY STATES.—

14 ‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE.—A State shall adopt

15 water quality criteria for coastal recreation waters

16 which, at a minimum, are consistent with the cri17 teria published by the Administrator under section

304(a)(1) not later than 31 18 ⁄2 years following the

19 date of the enactment of this subsection. Such water

20 quality criteria shall be developed and promulgated

21 in accordance with the requirements of subsection

22 (c). A State shall incorporate such criteria into all

23 appropriate programs into which such State would

24 incorporate other water quality criteria adopted

25 under such section and revise such criteria not later
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1 than 3 years following the date of publication of re2 visions by the Administrator under section 4(b) of

3 the Beaches Environmental Assessment, Cleanup,

4 and Health Act of 1999.

5 ‘‘(2) FAILURE OF STATES TO ADOPT.—If a

6 State has not complied with paragraph (1) by the

last day of the 31 7 ⁄2-year period beginning on the

8 date of enactment of this subsection, the Adminis9 trator shall promptly prepare and publish proposed

10 regulations setting forth revised or new water qual11 ity standards for such State to incorporate water

12 quality criteria for coastal recreation waters pursu13 ant to subsection (c)(4).’’.

14 SEC. 4. REVISIONS TO WATER QUALITY CRITERIA.

15 (a) STUDIES.—After consultation with appropriate

16 Federal, State, and local officials, including local health

17 officials, and other interested persons, but not later than

18 the last day of the 3-year period beginning on the date

19 of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall con20 duct, in cooperation with the heads of other Federal agen21 cies, studies to provide additional information to the cur22 rent base of knowledge for use in developing—

23 (1) a more complete list of potential human

24 health risks, including effects to the upper res25 piratory system;
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1 (2) appropriate and effective indicators for im2 proving detection in coastal recreational waters of

3 the presence of pathogens which are harmful to

4 human health; and

5 (3) appropriate, accurate, expeditious, and cost6 effective methods (including predictive models) for

7 detecting in coastal recreation waters the presence of

8 pathogens which are harmful to human health.

9 (b) REVISED CRITERIA.—Based on the results of the

10 studies conducted under subsection (a), the Administrator,

11 after consultation with appropriate Federal, State, and

12 local officials, including local health officials, shall issue,

13 within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act

14 (and review and revise from time to time thereafter, but

15 in no event less than once every 5 years) revised water

16 quality criteria for pathogens in coastal recreation waters

17 that are harmful to human health, including a revised list

18 of indicators and testing methods.

19 SEC. 5. COASTAL BEACH WATER QUALITY MONITORING.

20 Title IV of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act

21 (33 U.S.C. 1341–1345) is amended by adding at the end

22 thereof the following new section:

23 ‘‘SEC. 406. COASTAL BEACH WATER QUALITY MONITORING.

24 ‘‘(a) MONITORING.—Not later than 18 months after

25 the date of enactment of this section and after consulta-
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1 tion with appropriate Federal, State, and local officials,

2 including local health officials, and after providing notice

3 and an opportunity for comment, the Administrator shall

4 publish performance criteria for the monitoring of, and

5 specifying available methods to be used to monitor, coastal

6 recreation waters open for use by the public for compliance

7 with applicable water quality criteria for those waters and

8 protection of public safety. Such performance criteria

9 shall, at a minimum—

10 ‘‘(1) specify the frequency of monitoring based

11 on the periods of recreational use of such waters;

12 ‘‘(2) specify the frequency of monitoring based

13 on the extent and degree of use during such periods;

14 ‘‘(3) specify the frequency and location of mon15 itoring based on the proximity of coastal recreation

16 waters to known or identified point and nonpoint

17 sources of pollution and in relation to storm events;

18 ‘‘(4) specify methods for detecting levels of

19 pathogens that are harmful to human health and for

20 identifying short-term increases in pathogens that

21 are harmful to human health in coastal recreation

22 waters, including in relation to storm events; and

23 ‘‘(5) specify the conditions and procedures

24 under which monitoring of discrete areas of coastal

25 recreation waters is not necessary to ensure compli-
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1 ance with applicable water quality criteria for those

2 waters or for the protection of public safety.

3 ‘‘(b) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Performance

4 criteria published pursuant to subsection (a) shall include,

5 at a minimum—

6 ‘‘(1) criteria for prompt notification to the pub7 lic, local governments, and the Administrator of an

8 exceedance of applicable water quality standards for

9 coastal recreation waters or the immediate likelihood

10 of such an exceedance;

11 ‘‘(2) measures for prompt communication of the

12 occurrence, nature, location, pollutants involved, and

13 extent of such an exceedance, or the immediate like14 lihood of such an exceedance to the Administrator

15 and a designated official of a local government hav16 ing jurisdiction over land adjoining the coastal recre17 ation waters for which an exceedance is identified;

18 and

19 ‘‘(3) measures for posting of signs for the pe20 riod during which the exceedance continues, suffi21 cient to give notice to the public of an exceedance

22 of applicable water quality criteria for such waters

23 and the potential risks associated with water contact

24 activities in such waters.
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1 ‘‘(c) INFORMATION DATABASE.—The Administrator

2 shall establish, maintain, and make available to the public

3 by electronic and other means a national coastal rec4 reational water pollution occurrence database that pro5 vides information on exceedances of applicable water qual6 ity standards for coastal recreation waters using informa7 tion reported under subsection (b) or made available to

8 the Administrator from other coastal water quality mon9 itoring programs determined to be reliable by the Adminis10 trator.

11 ‘‘(d) FLOATABLE MATERIALS MONITORING PROCE12 DURES.—The Administrator shall provide technical assist13 ance to the States for development of assessment and

14 monitoring procedures for floatable materials in coastal

15 recreation waters and the conditions under which the pres16 ence of floatable materials will constitute a threat to public

17 health and safety.

18 ‘‘(e) IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.—

19 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—Following the publication of

20 criteria for monitoring and notification under sub21 section (a), the Administrator shall make grants to

22 States or local governments for the purpose of im23 plementing programs for monitoring and notification

24 that are approved under paragraph (2).

25 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM APPROVAL.—
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1 ‘‘(A) STATE PROGRAMS.—Any State may

2 submit to the Administrator a comprehensive

3 program for monitoring and notification under

4 subsection (a). If the Administrator determines

5 that the program meets the performance cri6 teria established under subsection (a), the Ad7 ministrator shall provide a grant to such State

8 for implementation of such program in accord9 ance with this section.

10 ‘‘(B) LOCAL PROGRAMS.—If a State does

11 not submit a program for approval under sub12 paragraph (A) within 1 year following the date

13 of publication of performance criteria under

14 subsection (a), or if the program submitted by

15 the State is not approved, a local government

16 within such State may submit a program for

17 monitoring and notification applicable to that

18 local government and if the Administrator de19 termines that the program meets the perform20 ance criteria established under subsection (a),

21 the Administrator shall provide a grant to such

22 local government for implementation of such

23 program in accordance with this section.

24 ‘‘(C) COST SHARING.—Grants under this

25 subsection shall not exceed 50 percent of the
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1 costs of implementing an approved monitoring

2 and notification program in any fiscal year.

3 ‘‘(f) DELEGATION OF RESPONSIBILITY.—A State

4 program approved under subsection (e) may allow delega5 tion of responsibility for monitoring and notification to

6 local government authorities and the State may make im7 plementation grant moneys received by a State available

8 to such delegated local government authorities.

9 ‘‘(g) REVIEW AND REVISION OF REGULATIONS.—

10 The Administrator shall review and revise regulations pub11 lished pursuant to this section periodically, but in no event

12 less than once every 5 years.

13 ‘‘(h) FAILURE TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAM.—

14 ‘‘(1) LIST OF AREAS WITH NO MONITORING

15 PROGRAM.—Beginning not later than 18 months

16 after publishing performance criteria under sub17 section (a), the Administrator shall maintain a list

18 of discrete areas of coastal recreation waters for

19 which the Administrator cannot verify the existence

20 of a program for monitoring and notification that

21 meets the performance criteria established under

22 subsection (a), other than those discrete areas of

23 coastal recreation waters where the Administrator

24 determines that monitoring is not necessary to en25 sure compliance with applicable water quality cri-
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1 teria or the protection of the public safety. The Ad2 ministrator shall make such list publicly available

3 through publication in the Federal Register and

4 through electronic media. The Administrator shall

5 update such list at least once annually.

6 ‘‘(2) EPA IMPLEMENTATION.—If, after the last

7 day of the 3-year period beginning on the date the

8 Administrator includes a discrete area of coastal

9 recreation waters on the list under paragraph (1),

10 there remains no program for monitoring and notifi11 cation that meets the criteria established under sub12 section (a) for such area, the Administrator shall

13 conduct such a program for such area.

14 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following

15 definitions apply:

16 ‘‘(1) COASTAL RECREATION WATERS.—The

17 term ‘coastal recreation waters’ means the Great

18 Lakes and marine coastal waters used by the public

19 for swimming, bathing, surfing, or other similar

20 water contact activities.

21 ‘‘(2) FLOATABLE MATERIALS.—The term ‘float22 able materials’ means any foreign matter that may

23 float or remain suspended in the water column and

24 includes plastic, aluminum cans, wood, bottles, and

25 paper products.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

2 Not later than 4 years after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, and periodically thereafter, the Adminis4 trator shall submit to Congress a report including—

5 (1) recommendations concerning the need for

6 additional water quality criteria and other actions

7 needed to improve the quality of coastal recreation

8 waters; and

9 (2) an evaluation of State or local efforts to im10 plement this Act, including the amendments made

11 by this Act.

12 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

13 In this Act, the following definitions apply:

14 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis15 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ16 mental Protection Agency.

17 (2) COASTAL RECREATION WATERS.—The term

18 ‘‘coastal recreation waters’’ means the Great Lakes

19 and marine coastal waters used by the public for

20 swimming, bathing, surfing, or other similar body

21 contact purposes.

22 (3) FLOATABLE MATERIALS.—The term ‘‘float23 able materials’’ means any foreign matter that may

24 float or remain suspended in the water column and

25 includes plastic, aluminum cans, wood, bottles, and

26 paper products.
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1 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to the

3 Administrator—

4 (1) for making grants to State or local govern5 ments under section 406(e) of the Federal Water

6 Pollution Control Act, $7,500,000 for each of fiscal

7 years 2000 through 2004; and

8 (2) for carrying out the other provisions of this

9 Act (including amendments made by this Act), such

10 sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years

11 2000 through 2004.

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