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106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4917

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act relating to marine

sanitation devices.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 20, 2000

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 relating

to marine sanitation devices.

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 ‘‘Recreational Waters

5 Protection Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Performance standards for marine sanita9 tion devices were first authorized by the Federal

10 Water Pollution Control Act.
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1 (2) Marine sanitation device standards have not

2 been updated since regulations were first imple3 mented pursuant to that Act.

4 (3) Advances in marine sanitation device tech5 nology have now made it practical for wastes to be

6 treated on board a vessel to the extent that coliform

7 count can be reduced below that required for shell8 fish harvest, and provide treatment that is superior

9 to that required by shoreside treatment facilities.

10 (4) Setting new marine sanitation device per11 formance standards will recognize existing techno12 logical advances and spur further innovation to a

13 level of on-board waste treatment far superior to

14 that envisioned by the Federal Water Pollution Con15 trol Act.

16 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is (1) to re17 vise the minimum standards for marine sanitation devices

18 so that such standards exceed the fecal coliform standards

19 of each of the 50 States, and (2) to promote the use of

20 the best available technology in type I and type II marine

21 sanitation devices.

22 SEC. 3. REVISED STANDARDS FOR MARINE SANITATION

23 DEVICES.

24 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment

25 of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro-
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1 tection Agency shall complete a review of the capabilities

2 of existing marine sanitation technology and publish re3 vised standards for marine sanitation devices pursuant to

4 section 312(c)(1)(A) of the Federal Water Pollution Con5 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1322(c)(1)(A)). The revised standards

6 shall require a baseline effluent water quality for fecal coli7 form of not more than 10 fecal coliform per 100 milliliters

8 and shall require a reduction in biological oxygen demand

9 of at least 35 percent.

10 SEC. 4. STATE PROHIBITION.

11 Section 312(f)(3) of the Federal Water Pollution

12 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1322(f)(3)) is amended—

13 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘After’’; and

14 (2) by adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(B) A prohibition under subparagraph (A) shall not

16 apply to a vessel that operates a type I or type II marine

17 sanitation device that meets the standards for marine

18 sanitation devices revised pursuant to section 2 of the Rec19 reational Waters Protection Act and published under sub20 section (c)(1)(A) after the date of enactment of this sub21 paragraph.’’.

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