I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2452 

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to ensure that sewage 

treatment plants monitor for and report discharges of raw sewage, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2007 

Mr. BISHOP of New York (for himself, Mr. LOBIONDO, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. NADLER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mrs. MALONEY of 

New York, Mr. LANTOS, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. SAXTON, 

and Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland) 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 ensure 

that sewage treatment plants monitor for and report 

discharges of raw sewage, 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 ‘‘Raw Sewage Overflow 

5 Community Right-to-Know Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Centers for Disease Control estimates 

2 that there are 7,100,000 cases of mild to moderate, 

3 and 560,000 cases of moderate to severe, infectious 

4 waterborne disease in the United States each year. 

5 (2) Inadequately treated sewage is filled with 

6 bacteria, viruses, parasites, and worms that make 

7 people sick. 

8 (3) People who ingest or inhale inadequately 

9 treated sewage can contract gastroenteritis, hepa10 titis, giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, dysentery, and 

11 other gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases. 

12 (4) Between 1,800,000 and 3,500,000 Ameri13 cans become sick every year just from swimming in 

14 waters contaminated by sewer overflows. 

15 (5) The loss of swimming opportunities (beach 

16 closings) due to pathogen contamination is valued at 

17 $1,000,000,000 to $2,000,000,000 annually in the 

18 United States. 

19 (6) Economic losses due to swimming-related 

20 illnesses are estimated at $28,000,000,000 annually. 

21 (7) Many sewer systems do not routinely mon22 itor to detect sewer overflows or report those that do 

23 occur to environmental or public health agencies. 


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1 (8) Better monitoring, reporting, and public no2 tification of sewer overflows would save millions of 

3 Americans from getting sick every year. 

4 (9) Public health authorities are not routinely 

5 notified of sewer overflows that threaten public 

6 health. 

7 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

8 Section 502 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

9 Act (33 U.S.C. 1362) is amended by adding at the end 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘(25) SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOW.—The term 

12 ‘sanitary sewer overflow’ means an overflow, spill, 

13 release, or diversion of wastewater from a sanitary 

14 sewer system. Such term does not include combined 

15 sewer overflows or other discharges from the com16 bined portions of a combined sewer system and does 

17 not include wastewater backups into buildings 

18 caused by a blockage or other malfunction of a 

19 building lateral that is privately owned. Such term 

20 includes overflows or releases of wastewater that 

21 reach waters of the United States, overflows or re22 leases of wastewater that do not reach waters of the 

23 United States, and wastewater backups into build24 ings that are caused by blockages or flow conditions 

25 in a sanitary sewer other than a building lateral. 


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1 ‘‘(26) COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW.—The 

2 term ‘combined sewer overflow’ means an overflow, 

3 spill, release or diversion of wastewater from a com4 bined sanitary system at a point prior to the publicly 

5 owned treatment works treatment plant. 

6 ‘‘(27) SEWER OVERFLOW.—The term ‘sewer 

7 overflow’ means a sanitary sewer overflow or a com8 bined sewer overflow.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. MONITORING, REPORTING, AND PUBLIC NOTIFICA10 TION OF SEWER OVERFLOWS. 

11 Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

12 Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end 

13 the following: 

14 ‘‘(r) SEWER OVERFLOW NOTIFICATIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—Not later 

16 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this sub17 section, the owner or operator of a publicly owned 

18 treatment works (as defined in section 403.3(p) of 

19 the Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on 

20 March 1, 2007) under a permit issued under this 

21 section— 

22 ‘‘(A) must institute and utilize a method23 ology, technology, or management program that 

24 will alert the owner or operator to the occur25 rence of a sewer overflow in a timely manner; 


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1 ‘‘(B) must notify the public of a sewer 

2 overflow in any area where the overflow has the 

3 potential to affect human health; 

4 ‘‘(C) must notify the public as soon as 

5 practicable but not later than 24 hours of the 

6 time the owner or operator becomes aware of 

7 the overflow; 

8 ‘‘(D) must immediately notify public health 

9 authorities and other affected entities, such as 

10 public water systems, of any sewer overflow 

11 that may imminently and substantially endan12 ger human health; 

13 ‘‘(E) must provide to the Administrator or 

14 the State in the case of a State that has a per15 mit program approved under this section either 

16 an oral or electronic report as soon as prac17 ticable within 24 hours of the time the owner 

18 or operator becomes aware of the overflow; 

19 ‘‘(F) must provide to the Administrator or 

20 the State, as the case may be, within 5 days of 

21 the time the owner or operator becomes aware 

22 of the overflow a written report describing— 

23 ‘‘(i) the magnitude, duration, and sus24 pected cause of the overflow; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the steps taken or planned to re2 duce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence of 

3 the overflow; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) the steps taken or planned to 

5 mitigate the impact of the overflow; 

6 ‘‘(G) must report all sewer overflows to 

7 waters of the United States on its monthly dis8 charge monitoring report to the Administrator 

9 or the State, as the case may be; and 

10 ‘‘(H) must report to the Administrator or 

11 the State, as the case may be, the total number 

12 of sewer overflows (including sewer overflows 

13 that do not reach any waters of the United 

14 States) in a calendar year, including the details 

15 of how much wastewater was released per inci16 dent, the duration of each sewer overflow, the 

17 location of the overflow and any potentially af18 fected receiving waters, the responses taken to 

19 clean up the overflow, and the actions taken to 

20 mitigate impacts and avoid further sewer over21 flows at the site. 

22 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO EPA.—If a State receives a re23 port under paragraph (1)(H), the State shall report 

24 to the Administrator annually, in summary, the deVerDate Aug 31 2005 19:15 May 27, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2452.IH H2452

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1 tails of reported sewer overflows that occurred in 

2 that State.’’. 

3 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE. 

4 Section 603(c) of the Federal Water Pollution Con5 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(c)) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ the first place it appears; 

7 and 

8 (2) by inserting after ‘‘320 of this Act’’ the fol9 lowing: ‘‘, and (4) for the implementation of require10 ments to monitor, report, and notify the public of 

11 sewer overflows under section 402’’. 

Æ 


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