Clean Water Act (amended 1987) - SEC. 320 [33 U.S.C. 1330] National Estuary Program 

[320 added by PL 100-4]

 (a) Management Conference.--

 (1) Nomination of Estuaries.--The Governor of any State may nominate to the Administrator an 

estuary lying in whole or in part within the State as an estuary of national significance and request a 

management conference to develop a comprehensive management plan for the estuary. The nomination 

shall document the need for the conference, the likelihood of success, and information relating to the 

factors in paragraph (2). 

 (2) Convening of Conference.--

 (A) In General.--In any case where the Administrator determines, on his own initiative or upon 

nomination of a State under paragraph (1), that the attainment or maintenance of that water quality in an 

estuary which assures protection of public water supplies and the protection and propagation of a 

balanced, indigenous population of shellfish, fish, and wildlife, and allows recreational activities, in and 

on the water, requires the control of point and nonpoint sources of pollution to supplement existing 

controls of pollution in more than one State, the Administrator shall select such estuary and convene a 

management conference. 

 (B) Priority consideration.--The Administrator shall give priority consideration under this section to 

Long Island Sound, New York and Connecticut; Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island; Buzzards Bay, 

Massachusetts; Massachusetts Bay, Massachusetts (including Cape Cod Bay and Boston Harbor); 

Puget Sound, Washington; New York-New Jersey Harbor, New York and New Jersey; Delaware 

Bay, Delaware and New Jersey; Delaware Inland Bays, Delaware; Albermarle Sound, North Carolina; 

Sarasota Bay, Florida; San Francisco Bay, California; Santa Monica Bay, California; Galveston Bay, 

Texas; Barataria-Terrebonne Bay estuary complex, Louisiana; Indian River Lagoon, Florida; and 

Peconic Bay, New York. 

[320(a)(2)(B) amended by PL 100-202; PL 100-653; PL 100-688]

 (3) Boundary Dispute Exception.--In any case in which a boundary between two States passes 

through an estuary and such boundary is disputed and is the subject of an action in any court, the 

Administrator shall not convene a management conference with respect to such estuary before a final 

adjudication has been made of such dispute. 

 (b) Purposes of Conference.--The purposes of any management conference convened with respect to 

an estuary under this subsection shall be to--

 (1) assess trends in water quality, natural resources, and uses of the estuary; 

 (2) collect, characterize, and assess data on toxics, nutrients, and natural resources within the 

estuarine zone to identify the causes of environmental problems; 

 (3) develop the relationship between the in place loads and point and nonpoint loadings of pollutants 

to the estuarine zone and the potential uses of the zone, water quality, and natural resources; 
 (4) develop a comprehensive conservation and management plan that recommends priority corrective 

actions and compliance schedules addressing point and nonpoint sources of pollution to restore and 

maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the estuary, including restoration and 

maintenance of water quality, a balanced indigenous population of shellfish, fish and wildlife, and 

recreational activities in the estuary, and assure that the designated uses of the estuary are protected; 

 (5) develop plans for the coordinated implementation of the plan by the States as well as Federal and 

local agencies participating in the conference; 

 (6) monitor the effectiveness of actions taken pursuant to the plan; and 

 (7) review all Federal financial assistance programs and Federal development projects in accordance 

with the requirements of Executive Order 12372, as in effect on September 17, 1983, to determine 

whether such assistance program or project would be consistent with and further the purposes and 

objectives of the plan prepared under this section. For purposes of paragraph (7), such programs and 

projects shall not be limited to the assistance programs and development projects subject to Executive 

Order 12372, but may include any programs listed in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance which may have an effect on the purposes and objectives of the plan developed under this 

section. 

 (c) Members of Conference.--The members of a management conference convened under this 

section shall include, at a minimum, the Administrator and representatives of--

 (1) each State and foreign nation located in whole or in part in the estuarine zone of the estuary for 

which the conference is convened; 

 (2) international, interstate, or regional agencies or entities having jurisdiction over all or a significant 

part of the estuary; 

 (3) each interested Federal agency, as determined appropriate by the Administrator; 

 (4) local governments having jurisdiction over any land or water within the estuarine zone, as 

determined appropriate by the Administrator; and 

 (5) affected industries, public and private educational institutions, and the general public, as 

determined appropriate by the Administrator. 

 (d) Utilization of Existing Data.--In developing a conservation and management plan under this 

section, the management conference shall survey and utilize existing reports, data, and studies relating to 

the estuary that have been developed by or made available to Federal, interstate, State, and local 

agencies. 

 (e) Period of Conference.--A management conference convened under this section shall be convened 

for a period not to exceed 5 years. Such conference may be extended by the Administrator, and if 

terminated after the initial period, may be reconvened by the Administrator at any time thereafter, as 

may be necessary to meet the requirements of this section. 

 (f) Approval and Implementation of Plans.--
 (1) Approval.--Not later than 120 days after the completion of a conservation and management plan 

and after providing for public review and comment, the Administrator shall approve such plan if the plan 

meets the requirements of this section and the affected Governor or Governors concur. 

 (2) Implementation.--Upon approval of a conservation and management plan under this section, such 

plan shall be implemented. Funds authorized to be appropriated under titles Il and VI and section 319 

of this Act may be used in accordance with the applicable requirements of this Act to assist States with 

the implementation of such plan. 

 (g) Grants.--

 (1) Recipients.--The Administrator is authorized to make grants to State, interstate, and regional 

water pollution control agencies and entities, State coastal zone management agencies, interstate 

agencies, other public or nonprofit private agencies, institutions, organizations, and individuals. 

 (2) Purposes.--Grants under this subsection shall be made to pay for assisting research, surveys, 

studies, and modeling and other technical work necessary for the development of a conservation and 

management plan under this section. 

 (3) Federal Share.--The amount of grants to any person (including a State, interstate, or regional 

agency or entity) under this subsection for a fiscal year shall not exceed 75 percent of the costs of such 

research, survey, studies, and work and shall be made on condition that the non-Federal share of such 

costs are provided from non-Federal sources. 

 (h) Grant Reporting.--Any person (including a State, interstate, or regional agency or entity) that 

receives a grant under subsection (g) shall report to the Administrator not later than l8 months after 

receipt of such grant and biennially thereafter on the progress being made under this section. 

 (i) Authorization of Appropriations.-- There are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

not to exceed $12,000,000 per fiscal year for each of fiscal years 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991 

for--

 (1) expenses related to the administration of management conferences under this section, not to 

exceed 10 percent of the amount appropriated under this subsection; 

 (2) making grants under subsection (g); and 

 (3) monitoring the implementation of a conservation and management plan by the management 

conference or by the Administrator, in any case in which the conference has been terminated. The 

Administrator shall provide up to $5,000,000 per fiscal year of the sums authorized to be appropriated 

under this subsection to the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 

carry out subsection (j). 

 (j) Research.--

 (1) Programs.--In order to determine the need to convene a management conference under this 

section or at the request of such a management conference, the Administrator shall coordinate and 
implement through the National Marine Pollution Program Office and the National Marine Fisheries 

Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as appropriate, for one or more 

estuarine zones--

 (A) a long-term program of trend assessment monitoring measuring variations in pollutant 

concentrations, marine ecology, and other physical or biological environmental parameters which may 

affect estuarine zones, to provide the Administrator the capacity to determine the potential and actual 

effects of alternative management strategies and measures; 

 (B) a program of ecosystem assessment assisting in the development of (i) baseline studies which 

determine the state of estuarine zones and the effects of natural and anthropogenic changes, and (ii) 

predictive models capable of translating information on specific discharges or general pollutant loadings 

within estuarine zones into a set of probable effects on such zones; 

 (C) a comprehensive water quality sampling program for the continuous monitoring of nutrients, 

chlorine acid precipitation, dissolved oxygen, and potentially toxic pollutants (including organic 

chemicals and metals) in estuarine zones, after consultation with interested State, local, interstate, or 

international agencies and review and analysis of all environmental sampling data presently collected 

from estuarine zones; and 

 (D) a program of research to identify the movements of nutrients, sediments and pollutants through 

estuarine zones and the impact of nutrients, sediments, and pollutants on water quality, the ecosystem, 

and designated or potential uses of the estuarine zones. 

 (2) Reports.--The Administrator, in cooperation with the Administrator of the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, shall submit to the Congress no less often than biennially a comprehensive 

report on the activities authorized under this subsection including--

 (A) a listing of priority monitoring and research needs; 

 (B) an assessment of the state and health of the Nation's estuarine zones, to the extent evaluated under 

this subsection; 

 (C) a discussion of pollution problems and trends in pollutant concentrations with a direct or indirect 

effect on water quality, the ecosystem, and designated or potential uses of each estuarine zone, to the 

extent evaluated under this subsection; and 

 (D) an evaluation of pollution abatement activities and management measures so far implemented to 

determine the degree of improvement toward the objectives expressed in subsection (b)(4) of this 

section. 

 (k) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the terms "estuary" and "estuarine zone" have the 

meanings such terms have in section 104(n)(4) of this Act, except that the term "estuarine zone" shall 

also include associated aquatic ecosystems and those portions of tributaries draining into the estuary up 

to the historic height of migration of anadromous fish or the historic head of tidal influence, whichever is 

higher. 
In November 2000, Congress passed and President Clinton signed into law the Clean Waters 

and Estuaries Act. The Act included the following revision to Section 320 of the Clean 

Water Act.

SEC. 302. GRANTS. 

 Section 320(g) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 

 1330(g)) is amended by striking paragraphs (2) and (3) and inserting the

 following: 

 ``(2) Purposes.--Grants under this subsection shall be made to pay 

 for activities necessary for the development and implementation of a 

 comprehensive conservation and management plan under this section. 

 ``(3) Federal share.--The Federal share of a grant to any person 

 (including a State, interstate, or regional agency or entity) under this

 subsection for a fiscal year-- 

 ``(A) shall not exceed-- 

 ``(i) 75 percent of the annual aggregate costs of the development of

 a comprehensive conservation and management plan; and 

 ``(ii) 50 percent of the annual aggregate costs of the 

 implementation of the plan; and 

 ``(B) shall be made on condition that the non-Federal share of the 

 costs are provided from non-Federal sources.''. 

 

 SEC. 303. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

 Section 320(i) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 

 1330(i)) is amended by striking ``$12,000,000 per fiscal year for each 

 of fiscal years 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991'' and inserting 

 ``$35,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2005''.