IB

Union Calendar No. 566

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 828

[Report No. 106–943]

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require that discharges

from combined storm and sanitary sewers conform to the Combined

Sewer Overflow Control Policy of the Environmental Protection Agency,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 24, 1999

Mr. BARCIA (for himself, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. TERRY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. NEY, Mr. MASCARA, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. ALLEN,

Mr. BALDACCI, and Mr. DINGELL) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

OCTOBER 6, 2000

Additional sponsors: Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. METCALF, Mr. SCOTT,

Mr. GOODE, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. DICKS, Mr. EVANS, Mr. SANDERS, Mr.

GILLMOR, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. SHIMKUS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. UPTON,

Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. BASS, Ms. DANNER, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. HOEKSTRA,

Mr. WU, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. WISE, Mr. MATSUI, Ms.

KILPATRICK, Mr. SAWYER, Mr. LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr.

DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr.

PAYNE, Mr. KLINK, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MOLLOHAN,

Mr. MURTHA, Mr. BLILEY, Ms. CARSON, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. WELLER, Mr.

BUYER, Mr. FROST, Mr. LEACH, Mr. OWENS, Mr. BATEMAN, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. QUINN, Mr.

KANJORSKI, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. CAMP, Mr. PEASE, Mr. OLVER, Mr. MEEHAN, and Mr. BEREUTER

OCTOBER 6, 2000

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 24, 1999]

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to require

that discharges from combined storm and sanitary sewers

conform to the Combined Sewer Overflow Control Policy

of the Environmental Protection Agency, 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 ‘‘Wet Weather Water

5 Quality Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS.

7 Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act

8 (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘(q) COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS.—

11 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT FOR PERMITS, ORDERS, AND

12 DECREES.—Each permit, order, or decree issued pur13 suant to this Act after the date of enactment of this

14 subsection for a discharge from a municipal combined

15 storm and sanitary sewer shall conform to the Com16 bined Sewer Overflow Control Policy signed by the

17 Administrator on April 11, 1994 (in this subsection
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1 referred to as the ‘CSO control policy’), and shall pro2 vide for the development and implementation of long3 term control plans to meet applicable water quality

4 standards as expeditiously as possible.

5 ‘‘(2) WATER QUALITY AND DESIGNATED USE RE6 VIEW GUIDANCE.—Not later than December 31, 2000,

7 and after providing notice and opportunity for public

8 comment, the Administrator shall issue guidance to

9 facilitate the conduct of water quality and designated

10 use reviews for municipal combined sewer overflow re11 ceiving waters.

12 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—Not later than September 1,

13 2001, the Administrator shall transmit to Congress a

14 report on the progress made by the Environmental

15 Protection Agency, States, and municipalities in im16 plementing and enforcing the CSO control policy.’’.

17 SEC. 3. WET WEATHER PILOT PROGRAM.

18 Title I of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33

19 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the

20 following:

21 ‘‘SEC. 121. WET WEATHER WATERSHED PILOT PROJECTS.

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in coordina23 tion with the States, may provide technical assistance and

24 grants for treatment works to carry out pilot projects relat25 ing to the following areas of wet weather discharge control:
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1 ‘‘(1) WATERSHED MANAGEMENT OF WET WEATH2 ER DISCHARGES.—The management of municipal

3 combined sewer overflows, sanitary sewer overflows,

4 and stormwater discharges, on an integrated water5 shed or subwatershed basis for the purpose of dem6 onstrating the effectiveness of a unified wet weather

7 approach.

8 ‘‘(2) STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRAC9 TICES.—The control of pollutants from municipal

10 separate storm sewer systems for the purpose of dem11 onstrating and determining controls that are cost-ef12 fective and that use innovative technologies in reduc13 ing such pollutants from stormwater discharges.

14 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Administrator, in coordi15 nation with the States, shall provide municipalities partici16 pating in a pilot project under this section the ability to

17 engage in innovative practices, including the ability to

18 unify separate wet weather control efforts under a single

19 permit.

20 ‘‘(c) FUNDING.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be ap22 propriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for

23 fiscal year 2002, $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2003,

24 and $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2004. Such funds

25 shall remain available until expended.
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1 ‘‘(2) STORMWATER.—The Administrator shall

2 make available not less than 20 percent of amounts

3 appropriated for a fiscal year pursuant to this sub4 section to carry out the purposes of subsection (a)(2).

5 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—The Admin6 istrator may retain not to exceed 4 percent of any

7 amounts appropriated for a fiscal year pursuant to

8 this subsection for the reasonable and necessary costs

9 of administering this section.

10 ‘‘(d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 years

11 after the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis12 trator shall transmit to Congress a report on the results

13 of the pilot projects conducted under this section and their

14 possible application nationwide.’’.

15 SEC. 4. SEWER OVERFLOW CONTROL GRANTS.

16 Title II of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33

17 U.S.C. 1342 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the

18 following:

19 ‘‘SEC. 220. SEWER OVERFLOW CONTROL GRANTS.

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In any fiscal year in which the

21 Administrator has available for obligation at least

22 $1,200,000,000 for the purposes of section 601—

23 ‘‘(1) the Administrator may make grants to

24 States for the purpose of providing grants to a mu25 nicipality or municipal entity for planning, design,
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1 and construction of treatment works to intercept,

2 transport, control, or treat municipal combined sewer

3 overflows and sanitary sewer overflows; and

4 ‘‘(2) subject to subsection (g), the Administrator

5 may make a direct grant to a municipality or munic6 ipal entity for the purposes described in paragraph

7 (1).

8 ‘‘(b) PRIORITIZATION.—In selecting from among mu9 nicipalities applying for grants under subsection (a), a

10 State or the Administrator shall give priority to an appli11 cant that—

12 ‘‘(1) is a municipality that is a financially dis13 tressed community under subsection (c);

14 ‘‘(2) has implemented or is complying with an

15 implementation schedule for the 9 minimum controls

16 specified in the CSO control policy referred to in sec17 tion 402(q)(1) and has begun implementing a long18 term municipal combined sewer overflow control plan

19 or a separate sanitary sewer overflow control plan; or

20 ‘‘(3) is requesting a grant for a project that is

21 on a State’s intended use plan pursuant to section

22 606(c).

23 ‘‘(c) FINANCIALLY DISTRESSED COMMUNITY.—

24 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—In subsection (b), the term

25 ‘financially distressed community’ means a commu-
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1 nity that meets affordability criteria established by

2 the State in which the community is located, if such

3 criteria are developed after public review and com4 ment.

5 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATION OF IMPACT ON WATER AND

6 SEWER RATES.—In determining if a community is a

7 distressed community for the purposes of subsection

8 (b), the State shall consider, among other factors, the

9 extent to which the rate of growth of a community’s

10 tax base has been historically slow such that imple11 menting a plan described in subsection (b)(2) would

12 result in a significant increase in any water or sewer

13 rate charged by the community’s publicly owned

14 wastewater treatment facility.

15 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION TO ASSIST STATES.—The Ad16 ministrator may publish information to assist States

17 in establishing affordability criteria under paragraph

18 (1).

19 ‘‘(d) COST SHARING.—The Federal share of the cost

20 of activities carried out using amounts from a grant made

21 under subsection (a) shall be not less than 55 percent of

22 the cost. The non-Federal share of the cost may include, in

23 any amount, public and private funds and in-kind services,

24 and may include, notwithstanding section 603(h), financial
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1 assistance, including loans, from a State water pollution

2 control revolving fund.

3 ‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—

4 If a project receives grant assistance under subsection (a)

5 and loan assistance from a State water pollution control

6 revolving fund and the loan assistance is for 15 percent or

7 more of the cost of the project, the project may be adminis8 tered in accordance with State water pollution control re9 volving fund administrative reporting requirements for the

10 purposes of streamlining such requirements.

11 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

12 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

13 $750,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 and 2003. Such

14 sums shall remain available until expended.

15 ‘‘(g) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—

16 ‘‘(1) FISCAL YEAR 2002.—Subject to subsection

17 (h), the Administrator shall use the amounts appro18 priated to carry out this section for fiscal year 2002

19 for making grants to municipalities and municipal

20 entities under subsection (a)(2), in accordance with

21 the criteria set forth in subsection (b).

22 ‘‘(2) FISCAL YEAR 2003.—Subject to subsection

23 (h), the Administrator shall use the amounts appro24 priated to carry out this section for fiscal year 2003

25 as follows:
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1 ‘‘(A) Not to exceed $250,000,000 for making

2 grants to municipalities and municipal entities

3 under subsection (a)(2), in accordance with the

4 criteria set forth in subsection (b).

5 ‘‘(B) All remaining amounts for making

6 grants to States under subsection (a)(1), in ac7 cordance with a formula to be established by the

8 Administrator, after providing notice and an op9 portunity for public comment, that allocates to

10 each State a proportional share of such amounts

11 based on the total needs of the State for munic12 ipal combined sewer overflow controls and sani13 tary sewer overflow controls identified in the

14 most recent survey conducted pursuant to section

15 516(b)(1).

16 ‘‘(h) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the amounts

17 appropriated to carry out this section for each fiscal year—

18 ‘‘(1) the Administrator may retain an amount

19 not to exceed 1 percent for the reasonable and nec20 essary costs of administering this section; and

21 ‘‘(2) the Administrator, or a State, may retain

22 an amount not to exceed 4 percent of any grant made

23 to a municipality or municipal entity under sub24 section (a), for the reasonable and necessary costs of

25 administering the grant.
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1 ‘‘(i) REPORTS.—Not later than December 31, 2003,

2 and periodically thereafter, the Administrator shall trans3 mit to Congress a report containing recommended funding

4 levels for grants under this section. The recommended fund5 ing levels shall be sufficient to ensure the continued expedi6 tious implementation of municipal combined sewer overflow

7 and sanitary sewer overflow controls nationwide.’’.

8 SEC. 5. INFORMATION ON CSOS AND SSOS.

9 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 3 years

10 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator

11 of the Environmental Protection Agency shall transmit to

12 Congress a report summarizing—

13 (1) the extent of the human health and environ14 mental impacts caused by municipal combined sewer

15 overflows and sanitary sewer overflows, including the

16 location of discharges causing such impacts, the vol17 ume of pollutants discharged, and the constituents

18 discharged;

19 (2) the resources spent by municipalities to ad20 dress these impacts; and

21 (3) an evaluation of the technologies used by mu22 nicipalities to address these impacts.

23 (b) TECHNOLOGY CLEARINGHOUSE.—After transmit24 ting a report under subsection (a), the Administrator shall

25 maintain a clearinghouse of cost-effective and efficient tech-
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1 nologies for addressing human health and environmental

2 impacts due to municipal combined sewer overflows and

3 sanitary sewer overflows.
Union Calendar No. 566

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 828

[Report No. 106–943]

A BILL

To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act

to require that discharges from combined stormand sanitary sewers conform to the CombinedSewer Overflow Control Policy of the Environmental Protection Agency, and for other purposes.

OCTOBER 6, 2000

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,

and ordered to be printed