I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5539 

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to 

review and develop effluent standards, pretreatment standards, and water 

quality criteria for PFAS under the Federal Water Pollution Control 

Act, to provide Federal grants to publicly owned treatment works to 

implement standards, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2020 

Mr. PAPPAS (for himself, Mr. DELGADO, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. 

LYNCH, Mr. NEAL, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. 

SLOTKIN, Mrs. LAWRENCE, and Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to review and develop effluent standards, 

pretreatment standards, and water quality criteria for 

PFAS under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 

to provide Federal grants to publicly owned treatment 

works to implement standards, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean Water Standards 

3 for PFAS Act of 2020’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CLEAN WATER ACT EFFLUENT STANDARDS, 

5 PRETREATMENT STANDARDS, AND WATER 

6 QUALITY CRITERIA FOR PFAS. 

7 (a) REVIEW AND REGULATION OF SUBSTANCES AND

8 SOURCES.— 

9 (1) REVIEW.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable, 

11 but not later than September 30, 2021, and bi12 ennially thereafter, the Administrator shall pub13 lish in the Federal Register a plan under sub14 section (m) of section 304 of the Federal Water 

15 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1314) that 

16 contains the results of a review, conducted in 

17 accordance with such section, of the introduc18 tion or discharge of perfluoroalkyl and 

19 polyfluoroalkyl substances from classes and cat20 egories of point sources (other than publicly 

21 owned treatment works). 

22 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The Administrator shall 

23 include in each plan published pursuant to sub24 paragraph (A)— 


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1 (i) information on potential introduc2 tion or discharges of perfluoroalkyl and 

3 polyfluoroalkyl substances; 

4 (ii) any information gaps on such in5 troduction or discharges and the process 

6 by which the Administrator will address 

7 such gaps; 

8 (iii) for each measurable 

9 perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl sub10 stance that is not on the list of toxic pol11 lutants described in section 307(a) of the 

12 Federal Water Pollution Control Act, a de13 termination, in accordance with the re14 quirements of such section, whether or not 

15 to add the substance to such list; and 

16 (iv) a determination, in accordance 

17 with the requirements of the Federal 

18 Water Pollution Control Act, whether or 

19 not to establish effluent limitations and 

20 pretreatment standards for the introduc21 tion or discharge of each substance de22 scribed in clause (iii) that the Adminis23 trator determines under such clause not to 

24 add to such list and for which the AdminVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539

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1 istrator has not developed such limitations 

2 or standards. 

3 (2) REGULATION.—Based on the results of 

4 each review conducted under paragraph (1) and in 

5 accordance with the requirements of the Federal 

6 Water Pollution Control Act, the Administrator 

7 shall— 

8 (A) in accordance with the plan published 

9 under paragraph (1), as soon as practicable— 

10 (i) for each measurable perfluoroalkyl 

11 and polyfluoroalkyl substance that the Ad12 ministrator determines under paragraph 

13 (1)(B)(iii) to add to the list of toxic pollut14 ants described in section 307(a) of such 

15 Act, initiate the process for adding the 

16 substance to such list; and 

17 (ii) for each measurable perfluoroalkyl 

18 and polyfluoroalkyl substance that the Ad19 ministrator determines under paragraph 

20 (1)(B)(iv) to establish effluent limitations 

21 and pretreatment standards, establish such 

22 effluent limitations and pretreatment 

23 standards (which limitations and standards 

24 may be established by substance or by 

25 class or category of substances); and 


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1 (B) not later than 1 year after the date on 

2 which each plan is published under paragraph 

3 (1), publish human health water quality criteria 

4 for measurable perfluoroalkyl and 

5 polyfluoroalkyl substances and classes and cat6 egories of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl 

7 substances for which the Administrator has not 

8 published such criteria. 

9 (b) DEADLINES FOR COVERED PERFLUOROALKYL

10 SUBSTANCES.— 

11 (1) WATER QUALITY CRITERIA.—Not later than 

12 2 years after the date of enactment of this section, 

13 the Administrator shall publish in the Federal Reg14 ister human health water quality criteria for each 

15 covered perfluoroalkyl substance. 

16 (2) EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS AND

17 PRETREATMENT STANDARDS FOR PRIORITY INDUS18 TRY CATEGORIES.—As soon as practicable, but not 

19 later than 4 years after the date of enactment of 

20 this section, the Administrator shall publish in the 

21 Federal Register a final rule establishing, for each 

22 priority industry category, effluent limitations and 

23 pretreatment standards for the introduction or dis24 charge of each covered perfluoroalkyl substance. 


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1 (c) NOTIFICATION.—The Administrator shall notify 

2 the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 

3 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Envi4 ronment and Public Works of the Senate of each publica5 tion made under this section. 

6 (d) IMPLEMENTATION ASSISTANCE FOR PUBLICLY

7 OWNED TREATMENT WORKS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 

9 award grants, in amounts not to exceed $100,000, 

10 to owners and operators of publicly owned treatment 

11 works, to be used for the implementation of a 

12 pretreatment standard developed by the Adminis13 trator for a perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl sub14 stance. 

15 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

16 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad17 ministrator to carry out this subsection 

18 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 

19 2025, to remain available until expended. 

20 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis22 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ23 mental Protection Agency. 

24 (2) COVERED PERFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCE.— 

25 The term ‘‘covered perfluoroalkyl substance’’ means 


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1 perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, 

2 or a salt associated with perfluorooctanoic acid or 

3 perfluorooctane sulfonic acid. 

4 (3) EFFLUENT LIMITATION.—The term ‘‘efflu5 ent limitation’’ means an effluent limitation under 

6 section 301(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Con7 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1311). 

8 (4) INTRODUCTION.—The term ‘‘introduction’’ 

9 means the introduction of pollutants into treatment 

10 works, as described in section 307(b) of the Federal 

11 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1317). 

12 (5) MEASURABLE.—The term ‘‘measurable’’ 

13 means, with respect to a chemical substance or class 

14 or category of chemical substances, capable of being 

15 measured using— 

16 (A) test procedures established under sec17 tion 304(h) of the Federal Water Pollution 

18 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1314); or 

19 (B) any other analytical method developed 

20 by the Administrator. 

21 (6) PRETREATMENT STANDARD.—The term 

22 ‘‘pretreatment standard’’ means a pretreatment 

23 standard under section 307(b) of the Federal Water 

24 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1317). 


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1 (7) PRIORITY INDUSTRY CATEGORY.—The term 

2 ‘‘priority industry category’’ means the following 

3 point source categories: 

4 (A) Organic chemicals, plastics, and syn5 thetic fibers, as identified in part 414 of title 

6 40, Code of Federal Regulations. 

7 (B) Pulp, paper, and paperboard, as iden8 tified in part 430 of title 40, Code of Federal 

9 Regulations. 

10 (C) Textile mills, as identified in part 410 

11 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations. 

12 (8) TREATMENT WORKS.—The term ‘‘treatment 

13 works’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

14 212 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 

15 U.S.C. 1292). 

16 (9) WATER QUALITY CRITERIA.—The term 

17 ‘‘water quality criteria’’ means criteria for water 

18 quality under section 304(a)(1) of the Federal 

19 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1314). 

Æ 


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