I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2684 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize appropriations for State water pollution control revolving funds, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2005 

Mrs. KELLY (for herself and Mrs. TAUSCHER) 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 authorize appropriations for State water pollution control 

revolving funds, 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; AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL 

4 WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act may be cited as the 

6 ‘‘Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 2005’’. 

7 (b) AMENDMENT OF FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION

8 CONTROL ACT.—Except as otherwise expressly provided, 

9 whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed 
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1 in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or 

2 other provision, the reference shall be considered to be 

3 made to a section or other provision of the Federal Water 

4 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.). 

5 SEC. 2. GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR CAPITALIZATION 

6 GRANTS. 

7 Section 601(a) (33 U.S.C. 1381(a)) is amended by 

8 striking ‘‘(1) for construction’’ and all that follows 

9 through the period and inserting ‘‘to accomplish the pur10 poses of this Act.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. CAPITALIZATION GRANTS AGREEMENTS. 

12 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF TREAT13 MENT WORKS.—Section 602(b)(6) (33 U.S.C. 

14 1382(b)(6)) is amended to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘(6) treatment works eligible under section 

16 603(c)(1) of this Act constructed in whole or in part 

17 with funds made available by a State water pollution 

18 control revolving fund under this title and section 

19 205(m) of this Act will meet the requirements of 

20 section 513 of this Act in the same manner as treat21 ment works constructed with assistance under title 

22 II of this Act;’’. 

23 (b) ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING CON24 TRACTS.—Section 602(b) (33 U.S.C. 1382(b)) is amend25 ed— 
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

2 (9); 

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of para4 graph (10) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(11) the State will require that each contract 

7 and subcontract for program management, construc8 tion management, planning studies, feasibility stud9 ies, architectural services, preliminary engineering, 

10 design, engineering, surveying, mapping, and related 

11 services entered into using amounts from the fund 

12 will be awarded in the same way that a contract for 

13 architectural and engineering services is awarded 

14 under chapter 11 of title 40, United States Code, or 

15 an equivalent qualifications-based requirement pre16 scribed by the State, except that such an award shall 

17 not be construed as conferring a proprietary interest 

18 upon the United States.’’. 

19 (c) GUIDANCE FOR SMALL SYSTEMS.—Section 602 

20 (33 U.S.C. 1382) is amended by adding at the end the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE FOR SMALL SYSTEMS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES.—Not later than 

24 1 year after the date of enactment of this sub25 section, the Administrator shall assist the States in 
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1 establishing simplified procedures for small systems 

2 to obtain assistance under this title. 

3 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION OF MANUAL.—Not later 

4 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this sub5 section, and after providing notice and opportunity 

6 for public comment, the Administrator shall publish 

7 a manual to assist small systems in obtaining assist8 ance under this title and publish in the Federal Reg9 ister notice of the availability of the manual. 

10 ‘‘(3) SMALL SYSTEM DEFINED.—For purposes 

11 of this title, the term ‘small system’ means a system 

12 for which a municipality or intermunicipal, inter13 state, or State agency seeks assistance under this 

14 title and which serves a population of 10,000 or 

15 less.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. WATER POLLUTION CONTROL REVOLVING FUNDS. 

17 (a) ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR ASSISTANCE.—Sec18 tion 603(c) (33 U.S.C. 1383(c)) is amended to read as 

19 follows: 

20 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR ASSISTANCE.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amounts of funds 

22 available to each State water pollution control re23 volving fund shall be used only for providing finan24 cial assistance to activities that have as a principal 

25 benefit the improvement or protection of water qual-
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1 ity of navigable waters to a municipality, intermunic2 ipal agency, interstate agency, State agency, or 

3 other person. Such activities may include the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(A) Construction of a publicly owned 

6 treatment works. 

7 ‘‘(B) Implementation of lake protection 

8 programs and projects under section 314. 

9 ‘‘(C) Implementation of a management 

10 program under section 319. 

11 ‘‘(D) Implementation of a conservation and 

12 management plan under section 320. 

13 ‘‘(E) Restoration or protection of publicly 

14 or privately owned riparian areas, including ac15 quisition of property rights. 

16 ‘‘(F) Implementation of measures to pro17 mote beneficial reuse of wastewater. 

18 ‘‘(G) Development and implementation of 

19 plans by a public recipient to prevent water pol20 lution. 

21 ‘‘(H) Acquisition of lands necessary to 

22 meet any mitigation requirements related to 

23 construction of a publicly owned treatment 

24 works. 
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1 ‘‘(I) Implementation of measures to en2 hance the security of publicly owned treatment 

3 works. 

4 ‘‘(J) Replacement and rehabilitation of 

5 treatment works to intercept, transport, control, 

6 or treat municipal combined sewer overflows 

7 and sanitary sewer overflows. 

8 ‘‘(2) FUND AMOUNTS.—The water pollution 

9 control revolving fund of a State shall be established, 

10 maintained, and credited with repayments, and the 

11 fund balance shall be available in perpetuity for pro12 viding financial assistance described in paragraph 

13 (1). Fees charged by a State to recipients of such 

14 assistance may be deposited in the fund for the sole 

15 purpose of financing the cost of administration of 

16 this title.’’. 

17 (b) LOAN GUARANTEES.—Section 603(d)(5) (33 

18 U.S.C. 1383(d)(5)) is amended to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(5) to provide loan guarantees for— 

20 ‘‘(A) similar revolving funds established by 

21 municipalities or intermunicipal agencies; and 

22 ‘‘(B) developing and implementing innova23 tive technologies.’’. 

24 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Section 603(d)(7) 

25 (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)(7)) is amended by inserting before the 
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1 period at the end the following: ‘‘or $400,000 per year 

or 1 2 ⁄2 percent per year of the current valuation of such 

3 fund, whichever is greater, plus the amount of any fees 

4 collected by the State for such purpose under subsection 

5 (c)(2)’’. 

6 (d) TECHNICAL AND PLANNING ASSISTANCE FOR

7 SMALL SYSTEMS.—Section 603(d) (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

10 (6); 

11 (2) by striking the period at the end of para12 graph (7) and inserting a semicolon; and 

13 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(8) to provide to small systems technical and 

15 planning assistance and assistance in financial man16 agement, user fee analysis, budgeting, capital im17 provement planning, facility operation and mainte18 nance, repair schedules, and other activities to im19 prove wastewater treatment plant operations, except 

20 that such amounts shall not exceed 2 percent of all 

21 grant awards to such fund under this title; and’’. 

22 (e) GRANTS TO FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED COMMU23 NITIES.—Section 603(d) (33 U.S.C. 1383(d)) is further 

24 amended by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(9) to make grants to financially distressed 

2 communities in the State in the amounts specified in 

3 subsection (i).’’. 

4 (f) CONSISTENCY WITH PLANNING REQUIRE5 MENTS.—Section 603(f) (33 U.S.C. 1383(f)) is amended 

6 by striking ‘‘is consistent’’ and inserting ‘‘is not incon7 sistent’’. 

8 (g) CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE.—Section 603(g) 

9 (33 U.S.C. 1383(g)) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(g) CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANCE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY LIST REQUIREMENT.—The State 

12 may provide financial assistance from its water pol13 lution control revolving fund with respect to a 

14 project for construction of a publicly owned treat15 ment works only if such project is on the State’s pri16 ority list under section 216 of this Act without re17 gard to the rank of such project on the State’s pri18 ority list. 

19 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY OF CERTAIN TREATMENT

20 WORKS.—A treatment works shall be treated as a 

21 publicly owned treatment works for purposes of sub22 section (c) if the treatment works, without regard to 

23 ownership, would be considered a publicly owned 

24 treatment works and is principally treating munic25 ipal waste water or domestic sewage.’’. 
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1 (h) FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED COMMUNITIES.—Sec2 tion 603 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(i) FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED COMMUNITIES.— 

4 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any fiscal year in 

6 which the Administrator has available for obli7 gation more than $1,400,000,000 for the pur8 poses of this title, a State shall make grants to 

9 financially distressed communities in the State 

10 in an amount equal to 25 percent of the dif11 ference between— 

12 ‘‘(i) the total amount that would have 

13 been allotted to the State under section 

14 604 for such fiscal year if the amount 

15 available to the Administrator for obliga16 tion under this title for such fiscal year 

17 had been equal to $1,400,000,000; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the total amount allotted to the 

19 State under section 604 for such fiscal 

20 year. 

21 ‘‘(B) PERIOD OF AVAILABILITY.—Notwith22 standing section 604(c), amounts to be used by 

23 a State under this paragraph for making grants 

24 to financially distressed communities shall re25 main available to the State until expended. 
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1 ‘‘(C) CERTIFICATION.—A State may make 

2 a grant to a financially distressed community 

3 under this paragraph only if the community 

4 certifies to the State that the amounts of the 

5 grant will be used to improve water quality. 

6 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY FOR LOANS.—A State may give 

7 priority to a financially distressed community in 

8 making loans from its water pollution control revolv9 ing fund. 

10 ‘‘(3) FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED COMMUNITY

11 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘financially dis12 tressed community’ means any community that 

13 meets affordability criteria established by the State 

14 in which the treatment works is located, if such cri15 teria are developed after public review and comment. 

16 ‘‘(4) INFORMATION TO ASSIST STATES.—The 

17 Administrator may publish information to assist 

18 States in establishing affordability criteria under 

19 paragraph (3).’’. 

20 SEC. 5. ASSET MANAGEMENT. 

21 Title VI (33 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.) is amended— 

22 (1) by redesignating section 607 as section 608; 

23 and 

24 (2) by inserting after section 606 the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 607. ASSET MANAGEMENT. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall provide 

3 technical and financial assistance to owners and operators 

4 of publicly-owned treatment works for the following activi5 ties: 

6 ‘‘(1) Performing an inventory of critical treat7 ment works assets. 

8 ‘‘(2) Evaluating the condition and performance 

9 of inventoried assets or asset groupings. 

10 ‘‘(3) Developing a plan for maintaining, repair11 ing, and replacing treatment works and for funding 

12 such activities. 

13 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2010. 

16 Such sums shall remain available until expended.’’. 

17 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 Section 608, as redesignated by section 5 of this Act, 

19 is amended by striking paragraphs (1) through (5) and 

20 inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(1) $3,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; 

22 ‘‘(2) $4,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; 

23 ‘‘(3) $5,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 

24 ‘‘(4) $6,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; and 

25 ‘‘(5) $7,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.’’. 

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